TECHNOLOGY
Brace For Impact
AI— IT’ S ALREADY RESHAPING HOSPITALITY.
By DAVID EISEN
M
ore consequential than the Industrial Revolution. It’ s how many are framing artificial intelligence. When ChatGPT is posed the question—“ Why is artificial intelligence more consequential than the Industrial Revolution?”— it gives itself a pat on the back.“ AI doesn’ t just automate physical labor— it has the potential to automate and augment cognitive labor, which affects virtually every sector of the economy,” it responded instantly, then went on to drill down and get more granular on its impact— or is it upheaval?
Let’ s ask. Another question for the LLM:“ What is the upheaval from artificial intelligence on hospitality?” The answer was more of a salve than an irritant.“ AI’ s impact on hospitality is likely to be significant, but it will look different from its impact on [ other ] industries because hospitality is fundamentally a people business.”
It’ s a more moderate take, to be sure— and that’ s coming from the very thing that is responsible for the disturbance!
HOTELS Magazine wanted to hear from a human, so we turned to Oliver Page, principal and digital lead for transportation, hospitality and services at Deloitte Digital, for his takes on the sweeping changes to come operationally, how AI will improve the service of hospitality and why the reports about the death of humans at the hands of AI are greatly exaggerated.
HOTELS: How do you envision AI reshaping the hospitality industry as it relates to the travel-booking experience, on-premises guest-facing, and back-of-the-house operations? Page: AI will support the hospitality industry in three key areas: how guests discover and book their stays, how guests are serviced on property and how hotels operate behind the scenes. In the booking experience, the shift is moving from guests actively searching for options to guests asking an AI agent to solve for their specific intent, budget, loyalty status, location and travel purpose. This transformation is already underway, with major brands collaborating with hotels and airlines to
74 hotelsmag. com July / August 2026