Artificial intelligence (AI) has the hospitality industry in a “frenzy,” according to Scot Campbell, principal advisor for Integrated Resorts Advisors.
“Every email and everything that comes your way has something to do with AI,” Campbell said, addressing the audience directly at HITEC 2026 in San Antonio last week.
Campbell sought to zero in on the technology’s impact while moderating a panel titled “Charting the Next Era of Hospitality Technology: Perspectives from Industry Leaders.”
The wide-ranging discussion focused on the future of hospitality, from AI to broader industry changes.
The hotel-distributor relationship
To kick things off, Campbell asked panelists: “How will AI change the relationship between guest brands and distribution platforms over the next five years?”
That’s the question “people are talking about quietly in the hallway,” Campbell said.
Executives from Aimbridge Hospitality, In2 Consulting, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Another Star offered varying takes.
Keryn McNamara, chief information officer for Aimbridge Hospitality, said AI is helping hospitality players take out the “middle men” to provide a “frictionless” and “customized” experience.
“We're putting our guests closer to what they actually want,” she said.
Scott Strickland, chief commercial officer for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said he sees AI as an additional booking channel.
“We're in version five of our Claude app or version two of our OpenAI app because we need to iterate quickly and understand where that conversation is going, so we can be part of that,” Strickland said.
Meanwhile, Floor Bleeker, consultant for In2 Consulting, said he believes that AI could democratize distribution.
He also believes it could change loyalty and has already altered revenue management. But he questioned what value big brands will offer if AI dramatically reshapes multiple verticals.
“I think it's good because, in the end, the customer will win big,” Bleeker said. “The big brands will have to think differently.”
Instead of just putting heads in beds, hoteliers will have to provide improved experiences and efficient operations, he theorized.
On the flip side, Lennert de Jong, CEO of Another Star, focused on fundamentals—which he believes remain the same.
He cited his 27-year tenure in the hotel business before responding that he doesn’t think much will change: “You have hotel rooms, and there are people,” de Jong said.
What will change most in 2030?
Campbell also asked panelists what aspect of the hotel experience will be fundamentally different in the coming years—whether or not AI is involved.
“I believe that it will be different in 10 years—what we see today is very different from what we see in the past,” said Bleeker. “The innovation today is not just about building faster or making things a little better.”
The sector is in a place with technology where the “entire experience” could be transformed, Bleeker said.
“We've barely been able to move the needle when it comes to the guest experience,” Bleeker said, noting he anticipates AI will improve things.
AI is going to impact everyone in the hotel ecosystem, McNamara added. She said there are likely to be roles that emerge in the next half decade that don’t currently exist.
“I think that something like an agent supervisor is in our future, maybe that's different than a guest service manager,” McNamara said. “Someone that's on property that's watching agents and overseeing the accountability of them.”
De Jong countered that many of the tools enabling system automation have been available for some time.
“Still every hotel that I walk in has phone desk combinations following the same process,” de Jong said. “Why is it going to change now?”
McNamara, however, said the current wave of AI differs from past technology shifts because of the capabilities that AI tools such as Claude have enabled for the general population.
“I'm not a coder, but what I personally have been able to achieve with Claude is unimaginable, and I wouldn't have thought it possible a year ago,” she said. “We have the ability to put that power into our general manager's hands and into our frontline associates' hands, that's why I think we're going to see drastic change.”
Strickland agreed, pointing to a convergence of forces: AI is accelerating the pace of innovation, he said, while legacy platforms are finally becoming more open.