Intermediaries such as Expedia and Booking.com have formed partnerships with artificial intelligence (AI) providers, creating uncertainty about the future of hotel distribution.
At The Phocuswright Conference, Kristie Goshow, former chief commercial officer of Peregrine Hospitality, Jean-Jacques Morin, group deputy CEO of Accor, Adam Harris, CEO of Cloudbeds, and Lennert de Jong, CEO of citizenM Hotels, touched on search’s evolution with AI and what it means for hotels.
"We're all worrying about—are we going to get disintermediated?” said Goshow.
De Jong said that the distribution game has been “a bit of a lost battle” for hotels on the whole.
“I think everybody runs over 50% OTA penetration,” de Jong said. “It's one of the reasons that we've sold our brand to Marriott, because we believe we'll get better results if we're behind a loyalty program like Marriott's.”
Morin compared what's happening with AI to other industry disruptors, including the entrance of OTAs and Airbnb, which forced hotels to shift their business models.
“When you really look at what has been happening, things were quite difficult for a couple of years, but for the industry in general … [things] have normalized to something which is quite in favor of the hotelier,” he said. “You still have a very good grip on your customer, on your data, and as long as you've got that, your business is to some extent safe.”
Morin said he doesn’t think it will be the hotelier who will be in the driver’s seat.
“One thing that I am convinced [of] is that we have, in fact, on our side, the fact that we have a warm body called the customer,” he said.
Meanwhile, Harris expressed excitement.
“I'm very bullish that there's a re-democratization event that will take place,” he said, noting the playing field will be leveled with new search habits in place. “The idea that new intermediaries are going to provide the technical bridge is unnecessary. Brands like myself, brands like citizenM can easily introduce the MCP layers or the agentic capability.”
Watch the full wide-ranging discussion with PhocusWire executive editor Linda Fox below:
Executive panel: How to compete for the modern hotel guest