TECHNOLOGY
New Wave
AI IS DRIVING INNOVATION IN HOTELS. WHERE SHOULD THE INDUSTRY FOCUS?
By NAZ AYDIN, FOUNDER, DESTINATION AI
A
rtificial intelligence is creating the most active period of innovation the hotel industry has ever seen. New tools are emerging at a breakneck pace across revenue management, marketing, guest communication, labor, operations, data analysis, maintenance, distribution and other areas. Established technology companies are adding AI to their platforms; startups are introducing entirely new capabilities; and hotel organizations are testing a growing number of pilots and use cases.
Despite the pace of new product announcements, most hotel companies have not yet scaled AI across their organizations. Many are still experimenting with individual tools, trying to understand where AI can create value, and working through fundamental questions around data, governance, trust, training and ownership. One of the clearer goals is to track how hotels are using AI, where they are investing, how employees interact with these tools, whether the technology is producing measurable results and how adoption evolves over time. That clarity is becoming more important as hotel economics grow more challenging. Even when revenues increase, rising labor, insurance, utilities, technology, maintenance, brand and other operating costs continue to put pressure on profitability. For owners, that means the standard for technology investment is getting higher.
The five areas below highlight some of the most immediate opportunities for hotels to apply AI across their operations while staying focused on the business problems that matter most.
➊ HOTEL OPERATIONS: FINDING VALUE BEHIND THE SCENES Some of the most meaningful AI innovation may happen in areas guests never see. Hotels still rely on a significant amount of manual coordination, with employees moving between systems, re-entering information, building schedules, reconciling invoices, assigning rooms, responding to
74 hotelsmag. com September 2026