Hoteliers are feeling the pressure to transform their businesses as technology evolves, according to Amadeus’ “Travel Dreams 2026” report.
The shift comes as travelers’ reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing. Travelers said AI was useful for planning (42%), inspiration (36%), booking (32%) and during travel (35%).
“Hoteliers are this year focused on becoming more efficient, digital and guest-centric, with rising costs, digital transformation and hyper-personalization cited as the main challenges,” Amadeus said in the report.
“They are investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) for revenue intelligence, forecasting and automation, while being careful to preserve the human touch in guest services.”
Amadeus worked with Opinium Research on the wide-ranging survey, which included 6,000 leisure and business travelers across Australia, China, U.K., U.S., India and Germany along with 500 hoteliers at the general manager level or above from Australia, India, France, Mexico, Thailand, South Africa, the UAE, U.K. and U.S.
Amadeus also interviewed additional representatives from hotels and destination marketing organizations across the globe.
Top challenges for hoteliers
Hoteliers face an array of challenges, including increasing operational costs (38%), digital transformation (33%), personalization (31%) and identifying shifting guest expectations (31%) as their top struggles.
Data—which is integral to AI usage—also continues to pose a challenge for hoteliers. Thirty-nine percent said it was difficult to access “‘forward-looking and competitive data’” to inform strategy. “‘Competitor insights’” and “‘actionable guest data’” were also called out as gaps.
Amadeus said those results illustrate the ongoing difficulties in turning fragmented data into “decision-ready intelligence.”
Improving profitability
While hoteliers are focused on the changing needs of guests, they are also looking at increasing revenue per available room and revenue per available guest as avenues to improving profitability.
“Hoteliers also see monetizing existing offerings and attributes, such as room views, amenities or flexible check-in, as a meaningful opportunity to drive incremental loyalty and revenue, often without requiring major capital investment,” said Peter Waters, global head of product for hospitality for Amadeus.
Waters also pointed to growing confidence in AI and other technology to better daily operations and marketing efficacy in addition to improved forecasting and price optimization.
As they look at measuring success, Amadeus said hoteliers are emphasizing financial performance and guest experience equally.
AI investment
Hotels are prioritizing investments with their goals of bettering operations efficiency and guest experience in mind. “AI and automation” is a major investment area.
Hoteliers are viewing AI as a “core strategic investment” as opposed to an experimental investment. Out of the 500 hoteliers interviewed for the survey, 499 said they intended to invest in AI capabilities, according to the report.
On average, they anticipated spending $319,000 in 2026. One in five said they planned to spend more than $500,000 “per property” on AI.
“Hoteliers report using AI first for commercially critical functions, which signals they trust the technology to directly drive profitability and operational efficiency,” said Vincent Lacroix, head of platform for AI and shared services for hospitality at Amadeus.
“At the same time, plans around personalization, content creation and predictive operations show AI is also seen as a key enabler of better guest experiences and scalable service, positioning it as both a revenue engine and a service differentiator.”
Other top investment priorities include “personalization through technology and data” and "revenue management.”
The priorities illustrate a focus on tailoring stays, improving pricing and support strategies and streamlining operations, according to Amadeus.