A pattern that has been unfolding for decades, and is now accelerating at a speed the industry has never experienced before. The message is simple:
AI is progressively absorbing the work that defined commercial expertise.
NB: This is an article from Juyo Analytics, one of our Expert Partners
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Forecasting, excel modelling, pattern detection, scenario simulation. These were once the differentiators that defined revenue and commercial leadership.
But now, they’re becoming infrastructure.
Not because they matter less, but because machines can now execute them faster, continuously, and at scale.
Which raises a deeper question for the industry:
If AI is taking over the analytical work… what becomes the role of the commercial leader?
The Pattern We’ve Been Ignoring
If you zoom out, the commercial role in hospitality has always evolved.
- In the 90s, revenue was intuition-driven. The value was relational. “I know my guests.”
- In the 2000s, the role became systems-driven. “I manage the RMS.”
- In the 2010s, it became analytics-driven. “I analyse patterns and forecast demand.”
Each shift redefined what expertise meant, changed what the market valued, and forced leaders to let go of skills that once made them indispensable.
Until now, those shifts took about a decade, but AI is accelerating the pattern of change.
AI Has Compressed the Timeline
What used to take decades now happens in months. Manual forecasting, Excel modelling, pattern detection, scenario simulation… These were once core differentiators, but they are quickly becoming infrastructure.
AI is no longer just producing reports. It can model displacement, simulate trade-offs, forecast at portfolio level, and stress-test pricing strategies in seconds.
That changes the value equation. When everyone has access to fast optimisation, optimisation stops being the advantage.
Which brings us to the central question: Who are you becoming as the environment changes?
The Three Timelines of Transformation
Commercial leadership is shifting across three horizons:
- Today (2026)
- In 2 years (2028)
- In 4 years (2030)
NOW: The Hybrid Moment
We’re in a phase where AI already performs the majority of analytical tasks.
It processes data faster than any team, recalibrates forecasts dynamically, flags anomalies in real time, and models scenarios instantly.
