Redefining the hotel guest experience: how AI can increase revenue
In ABTA’s Holiday Habits 2025-26 report it shines a light on the increasing usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the travel sector. ABTA explains that the proportion of people using AI to inspire their trips has doubled in the past 12 months, up to 8% from 4%, and that AI is beginning to play a bigger role in shaping decisions about people’s travel.
ABTA’s belief is that this ascendance and newfound dependence on AI will grow in the future, with its research stating that 43% of people are happy to lean on an AI tool to support their holiday planning, and another 38% expressing confidence in letting AI book for them. In addition, Booking.com released The Global AI Sentiment report. Its global research points out that 89% of consumers want to use AI in future travel planning, with AI assistants (24%) now considered a more trusted source than travel bloggers (19%) or social media influencers (14%).
AI is no longer a futuristic concept – its adoption is accelerating, and it’s already gaining traction across all areas of the travel and hospitality sector. For many hotels, for instance, AI is quietly transforming how teams work and how guests experience their stay. AI is enabling hospitality businesses to get closer to customers and offer a more effective and appreciated human touch and experience. Patrick Clover, Founder and CEO of Stampede explains how technology and AI helps hotels to save time, reduce waste, and create smoother, more personalised stays that guests remember.
Joining up the dots in one system to benefit guests
One powerful use of AI within the hospitality sector is how it is capable of taking vast amounts of customer data and turning this into meaningful insights. These insights can then be used to support operations, marketing and business growth. For example, every booking, room request and review tells hotels something about their guests. The challenge for many hotels, though, is being able pull all of that information together quickly enough to act on it.
However, the blocker for many hotels is that guest information often sits across multiple disconnected systems: booking and PMS platforms, Wi-Fi logins, CRM systems and review sites. Pulling this information together manually is time-consuming, and by the time insights emerge, the opportunity to act has passed. This is where AI can add real value: when applied across unified guest data, AI can automatically identify patterns, predict demand and highlight opportunities. Instead of relying on disparate spreadsheets, data points and instinct, hotels can make informed decisions about pricing, staffing and promotions based on real guest behaviour.
Another area where AI can provide gains is with monitoring competitor pricing. AI-driven pricing tools enable hospitality operators to keep an eye on competitor rates, demand levels, and local events. So, room prices can stay competitive, and be tweaked as required. In situations where hotels run a restaurant or bar, AI can also support stock forecasting. It can predict which dishes will be most popular, keep stock levels in check, and highlight profitable pairings, so that kitchens and food and beverage teams can plan ahead with confidence.
Automate repetitive tasks and free up time for guests
AI helps hospitality teams to simplify and streamline their operations without losing the human touch. AI can take on many routine administration tasks and automate repetitive tasks in the background, freeing up staff to focus on providing a superior guest experience elsewhere.
For instance, with guest reservations and restaurant bookings AI tools are already automatically sending guests confirmations, reminders, support with check-ins, and it is helping to deliver post-stay messages and ask for review requests. Sales and marketing teams benefit from information gleaned from various AI and automation systems too. AI can be used to analyse and predict busy or quiet periods, and provide detailed insight into venue performance without time consuming human analysis. This information benefits housekeeping and staff resourcing too. AI can help to forecast occupancy, meaning staff rotas stay balanced and overtime is reduced. From a facilities management point of view, AI can also spot maintenance issues before they turn into last-minute repairs, for example, during compliance audits or tracking the usage and service history of equipment.
While there are many areas that AI can drive operational efficiency, the key is to start small. Pick one task that takes up the most time. Guest messaging or staff scheduling is often a good place to start. Automate this first and once success has been achieved here, and time has been saved for the business, then move onto the next area that is crying out for improvement.
AI delivers the personal touch
Typically, within the hotel industry, guests often choose to stay at boutique hotels because of their individuality, attention to detail and personalised guest experience. AI helps hotels across the board deliver this same personalised level of care at scale across hotel chains of all sizes, without losing personality or warmth. Imagine this situation: a returning guest is greeted by name, offered their favourite drink, and finds their pillow preference already waiting. With AI-powered CRM tools, these thoughtful touches happen seamlessly behind the scenes.
Beyond the room booking, AI can recommend restaurants or local experiences that match each guest’s tastes in pre-arrival guest communications. Technology, in these moments, is adding value and enhancing hotels’ ability to create even more personal and memorable moments that bring guests back time and again.
Conclusion
Many hotels and hospitality organisations are still trying to get to grips with how AI fits into their business. For those in this position, they don’t need a complex setup to see results. The starting point is: what repetitive task needs to be automated, so that staff can be reallocated to other tasks that enhance the guest experience? Then it’s a case of matching the appropriate AI process with this task to drive efficiency gains.
At the heart of it, AI has not been designed to replace people. It has been designed to support them, and provide hospitality teams with the time and necessary insights they need to create the warm, memorable stays that guests love. This is where deploying unified guest engagement technology can support hotels on their AI and guest experience journey, connecting guest data across touchpoints such as Wi-Fi, marketing and reviews.
Broadly speaking when AI is deployed it enables hotel operators to better understand and manage their business. For sales and marketing teams using AI-enhanced guest engagement can enable teams to understand guest behaviour, personalise communication, build loyalty and drive repeat visits and revenue through the power of unified data. When you look at it this way, AI only adds value to the business for customers and staff alike.
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