We are currently being sold a narrative that AI will “free up staff” to focus on the human element. This is a comforting lie. The trajectory of the hospitality industry over the last two decades suggests the exact opposite. We have been moving steadily away from hospitality (a relationship) and toward processing (a transaction).
NB: This is an article from Demand Calendar
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AI will not reverse this trend; it will accelerate it. We are about to enter the era of the “Personalized Transaction” – a hyper-efficient, frictionless, and utterly soulless experience. And just like they did twenty years ago, hoteliers are going to take the easy way out and let it happen.
How We Got Here (The OTA Surrender)
To understand where AI is taking us, we have to look at the moment the industry lost its way: the rise of the Internet.
When the digital revolution arrived, hoteliers stood at a crossroads. They had the opportunity to use the Internet to build deeper, direct relationships with their guests globally. Instead, they chose the path of least resistance. They handed the keys to the kingdom over to Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Expedia and Booking.com.
Why? Because it was easy. It filled rooms. It required less effort than building brand equity or training staff to sell value. But the cost was the soul of the business.
“The moment a hotelier decided it was easier to pay a 20% commission than to maintain a relationship, the guest ceased to be a human and became a commodity.”
Since then, the industry has become transactional by default.
- The Guest: Is no longer “Mr. Smith, who likes a quiet room away from the elevator.” He is Reservation ID #99843, arriving via a wholesale channel.
- The Product: Hotels have become generic boxes to fit the standardized filters of OTA search engines. Uniqueness is a risk; conformity is safe.
- The Interaction: The front desk has devolved into a data-entry checkpoint. Swipe card, check ID, hand over key.
We stripped the humanity out of the process long before ChatGPT arrived. We trained guests to expect nothing more than a clean bed and a Wi-Fi password. Now, as we stand on the precipice of the AI revolution, we are not looking for ways to be more hospitable. We are simply looking for a cheaper, faster way to process the transaction we created.
Enter AI – The “Personalization” Mirage
This brings us to the current buzzword dominating every hospitality conference keynote: AI Personalization.
Tech vendors and consultants promise that AI will usher in a new golden age of service. They claim that by analyzing data points, we can deliver hyper-personalized experiences. But let’s call this what it really is. It isn’t hospitality; it is surveillance marketing.
Read the full article at Demand Calendar
