The hospitality industry historically has been slow to adopt and integrate technology into its operating systems. However, this has changed for the better in recent years, with many hotels acknowledging that guest expectations around technology have increased and that staying competitive hinges upon embracing the latest advances. While some are already in play, there are a variety of emerging technological trends that experts predict will be critical for the hospitality sector in the coming years. Unsurprisingly, AI is at the core of much of these trends. Also important to know is that most experts predict that these changes will address labor shortages, promoting efficiency without eliminating the human element, and ideally will enhance guest satisfaction.
Robotics
Robots are not brand new to the hotel space, but in the coming years, they will play a larger role in how service is dispensed. Autonomous delivery robots, also known as ‘room service robots,’ for example, are already present in select hotels, accomplishing delivery of items like towels and even food orders in some cases, in a private and secure way. “It’s fully automated and integrated with security doors and elevators,” said Jonathan Vassallo, vice president of the Hospitality Division at Relay Robotics, adding that it’s not just for guests: hotel staff can utilize the robots to perform a task for them so that they do not have to abandon their job to meet a guest’s request.
“The staff augmentation is paramount on hoteliers and GMs’ minds. For some, they are finding it very hard to find talent, and for others, they are already operating as lean as possible,” added Vassallo.
Rather than replace people, utilizing robots to complete menial tasks can free up humans to engage better with the guests, so it actually empowers employees, even if it does reduce the need for labor.
Though hospitality is a human-centric industry, Vassallo pointed out that one area in which people do not necessarily want human interaction is room delivery, but they do want it at the front desk. Autonomous delivery robots, then, empower hotels to provide a better guest experience. As an example, a night shift front desk worker would not have to abandon their post to deliver an item to a guest’s room.
Another segment in robotics is humanoid robots, an AI-powered robot designed to look like a human. Matt Schwartz, chief technology officer with Sage Hospitality, pointed to humanoid robots as a breakthrough technology that could be standard in the future, particularly robots that can do back-of-house chores, which he said would rebalance labor, allowing human staff to spend more time with guests.
“The technology isn’t quite there yet, but also because it’s the social acceptance of a humanoid robot in a hotel isn’t quite there yet in North America,” said Vassallo. “But how this automation is going to interact with both guests and staff is one of the biggest changes happening now and will continue in the future as we see more request for robotics.”
Vassallo predicts that robots in hotels will be commonplace within five to 10 years. For hotels considering adding delivery robots to its ‘staff,’ Vassallo pointed out that hoteliers should think about the layout of their hotel now (particularly for new construction hotels), such as considering the distance between the restaurant and the elevator, in order to maximize a robot’s efficiency. He said that perhaps the biggest, not to mention most expensive, challenge is integrating the elevator to be consistent with the robot’s functions. “Obviously, it’s a cost savings if you do it when the hotel is being built,” he said, but the elevator’s connectivity is critical.
Unified versus Fragmented Systems
Although this technology has been around for quite a while, hotels need to have unified platforms rather than fragmented tech stacks. Wouter Geerts, director of market research and intelligence with Mews, a cloud-based hospitality management software company, pointed out that many hotels currently use between five and 20 systems to operate the whole hotel, but upgrading them can take time, affecting both revenue and guest experience.
“If we want AI to make a really big impact on operations, there are certain core features that need to be fully embedded in our systems to work together. We have purchased a few companies, because we need closer connections to it. An integration can be good but it is not the same as having full control. We are seeing this from a vendor point of view,” said Geerts.
However, as guests are starting to expect both personalized and seamless interactions, he advised that now is a good time to start exploring better, more integrated systems. “Having a good tech stack that allows you to understand customers better, sell rooms better, sell space better: not just bedrooms but any space you have should be sold to the utmost system that will allow you to upsell additional products aside from rooms,” he said.
Contactless Technology
Though this already exists as an option in many hotels, expect the industry lean even more toward contactless guest journeys, such as mobile check-ins and digital room keys. Benjamin Verot, founder of HotelMinder, noted that this shift will have an impact on front desk operations, but it will not make employees obsolete. “That does not mean that hospitality will lose the human contact. Essentially, reception desks are being moved further away at the back of the lobby. We’ll start to see fully dedicated hotel staff waiting for you in the lobby, instead of checking you in, asking how was your flight, would you like tea/coffee, etc.,” he said.
AI Powered Communications
Chatbots and automated messaging systems, which are integrated with texting apps, can answer common questions, fulfill requests, send updates, etc., which directly impacts efficiency. “AI-powered communications over text, calls and webchats are actively reducing workload for hotel teams. For example, AI Guest Messaging, AI Voice and AI Webchat are already live in thousands of hotels, powering millions of guest touchpoints. That’s millions of routine interactions that hotel staff would have otherwise had to handle, pulling them away from the high-impact, in-person guest engagement that moves the needle,” said SJ Sawhney, co-founder and president of Canary Technologies.
Agentic AI
Sawhney said that hospitality is firmly in the adoption era of AI, with half of hotels already adopting it and another significant portion actively exploring it.
“AI is evolving to be fully agentic, handling tasks end-to-end. Instead of just answering a guest question, AI will manage the request, update systems and trigger the next step automatically,” said Sawhney. “For example, if a traveler calls the hotel and wants to make a booking, AI can complete the reservation in the PMS as well as offer upsells like adding on breakfast to the stay. For staff, this automates a significant portion of repetitive administrative work. Hotels that are bringing in AI now will be far better positioned as AI continues to advance.”
Schwartz agreed that there will be a big shift from humans manually searching and comparing hotels to AI agents doing that work on your behalf, as it will understand your preferences in detail. “That has big implication for our industry; we need to re-architect all of our hotel websites. Now it has to be friendly for AI agents. The agent may not care about fancy photos; the agent cares about objective things: reviews, availability, rates and proximity,” he said. From the guests’ perspective, this will be quite efficient and greatly reduce the travel planning process.
Agentic AI, Geerts said, may even go so far as to optimize such hotel operations as early check in or late check outs, room availability information or selling underused event space. As an example, he said, “If you think about small hotels that have some space that they can sell as an event space: most don’t have an event manager, but if you have an automated bot that can automatically answer emails that come in with questions about an event, that will help give hotels an opportunity to sell these services. A lot of hotels don’t have that person who can sit and reply, but automation and AI can do that for you.”
A benefit of AI in hospitality, added Sawhney, is “… a more connected, proactive operation where every department runs more efficiently. Most front desk agents are juggling check-ins, phone calls, guest requests and backend tasks all at once. When everything hits at the same time, something inevitably gives—and more often than not, it’s the quality and personalization of the guest experience. AI changes that dynamic by no longer forcing the trade-off between getting things done and guest experience.”
As AI takes off, some manual tasks will likely disappear, especially those high-volume, repetitive tasks.
“What’s really game changing is hospitality-specific AI is also able to take the next step. That might mean confirming a late checkout or sending directions without any staff involvement. This is because AI solutions built for the industry understand the dynamics and workflows intimately and can anticipate the service needs proactively. Guests get what they need faster, and staff are free to handle more complex matters or in-person service,” added Sawhney.
If any AI-related trends are being underestimated, Sawhney said, it’s the importance of hospitality-specific AI, as the industry is highly nuanced. “The platforms that will win are the ones that translate AI capabilities into real operational leverage to truly transform the business,” he said.
Wearable Glasses
Based on facial recognition, smart glasses can pull up guest data instantly. The associate does not even need to look down at a screen or break eye contact but rather, can greet you, engage you in a conversation based on what is already known about you. This would not only empower employees but enhance and tailor guest services. “What if every associate had access to information at any moment in time?” asked Schwartz. “To me, that is a great delivery vehicle for information. That is the human connection, to unlock a level of personalization that will feel so seamless and won’t feel so scripted.”
The Effect: AI Empowered Employees
Rather than AI replacing jobs, Schwartz posited that AI will reshape how jobs are done. “Every job you think about in a hotel is made up of discreet tasks. What we’re doing is looking at every task and asking, ‘are these tasks that can be automated, augmented or agentically assisted with AI.’? I can’t replace every single task, but if you have 50 tasks, there are some AI can assist with. Think about it as augmentation versus replacement,” he said. This also implies that there will be a new expectation among hospitality employees that they will need to learn the basics of working alongside AI in their jobs. He predicts that in a decade, almost everyone will be AI-fluent.
Sawhney agreed, adding that hospitality will always be people-centric, with AI allowing staff to deliver a more personalized guest experience. “With access to real-time insights on individual guests, teams can personalize service based on preferences and past behaviors. That means a front desk agent isn’t just checking someone in: they’re anticipating the needs and requests of the guest in front of them. The result is a more informed, more empowered team that delivers a higher level of service without added complexity,” he said.
Sawhney continued, “The hotels that win will treat AI not as a service layer, but as an insight engine, one that surfaces who this guest is, what they value and what will genuinely delight them. That could mean anticipating needs before a guest asks, orchestrating experiences across departments in real time or empowering staff to deliver human service without friction.”
Getting Ready for Change
Preparing for what is around the corner in the world of technology requires, at the outset, a shift in thinking. It is important to onboard staff and train them to adopt new systems without overwhelming them. And evaluating whether a new technology is worth investing in requires reframing the issue as: what will both staff and guests most easily adopt? Schwartz said that technology decisions need to be framed through a profitability lens, with owners and operators evaluating the cost and the expected outcome. “It becomes a balance of attributing it to revenue increase, expense reduction or an improvement in guest satisfaction. If it is not doing one of these three things, it will be harder to justify,” he said.
On the topic of evaluating whether a new technology is worth investing in, Geerts said that a hotel should have a clear picture on what they are trying to achieve and what they stand for as a hotel. “What is the type of guest you are trying to attract? What services are you offering next to rooms? Are you a hostel that needs a system to sell beds? Or a normal hotel that wants to sell bedrooms? Are you close to an airport and want to sell rooms by hour? Do you have other rentals or accommodations on property? What kind of additional facilities that have revenue potential? All of these things that should inform what tech you go with,” said Geerts.
“We start with a problem, not the product,” said Brian Jenkins, vice president of strategic initiatives with Hotel Equities. “A technology is worth considering if it addresses a real operational pain point and can be implemented without creating more complexity than value.”
Verot does warn against being too quick to adopt AI technology because of the hype but rather, focus on what already works. “What they can do today is look at where technology is very useful today for a hotel. I wouldn’t panic and redevelop my whole stack; I would just focus on the few things I know can be improved. And if I don’t know, I’d look at getting some expert help.”
Because AI is developing at such a rapid pace, hotel owners and operators should themselves develop a fluency in AI in order to be able to understand the changes on the horizon and be able to hire and train the right people. “When it comes to training and onboarding, simplicity drives adoption. The most effective approach is choosing technology that’s intuitive to hotel workflows so it feels natural from day one. When technology fits how hotels already operate, adoption becomes faster, training becomes more effective and teams can focus on the guest experience,” said Sawhney.
Jenkins emphasized that the goal is not labor replacement but workplace efficiency. “The hotels that create value from AI are going to be the ones who use it seamlessly to improve guest satisfaction and remove friction from everyday operations,” he said. One example, he said, is utilizing AI to create curated recommendations for guests based on pre-arrival information about guests’ preferences gleaned from technology.
Experts predict that certain aspects of hotel operations that may feel cutting edge today will feel standard within a decade, and most of that centers around a seamless guest experience revolving around automation. Or, if you book a room on a hotel’s website and input your credit card, you’re not asked for your credit card again at any point in time during your hotel stay. “It is not as futuristic as it sounds, but very few hotels can do it today, though the technology is there,” said Geerts.
None of the up-and-coming technology should impact the guest experience in a negative way; quite the opposite, in fact. “Guest expectation of the human experience will be that much higher because they know the basic stuff will be handled by AI,” said Schwartz.
Geerts further pointed out that AI not only will free up employees from certain administrative duties but it should ideally make their jobs more rewarding. “Will it take away certain tasks or roles? Sure, but that is not necessarily a bad thing as long as we consider that it will bring new tasks and roles we haven’t even considered.”
This article was originally published in the June/July edition of Hotel Management magazine. Subscribe here.