SAN ANTONIO — Artificial intelligence has sat in the wings of hotel strategy talks for years. At this week’s HITEC conference, operators confronted its arrival in force.
Floor Bleeker, consultant at In2 Consulting and former Accor CTO, laid out the core tension on the opening panel. “Big brands, they depend on their distribution ability to get owners on board,” he said. “If AI somehow replaces that distribution… then you don’t need the brand anywhere in between. It democratizes distribution, so the brand loses one of its unique selling points.”
Bleeker argued brands must pivot. They will need to deliver stronger in-property experiences and tighter operations to retain owner contracts. The shift strips away an old advantage and forces a return to fundamentals.
Keryn McNamara, CIO at Aimbridge Hospitality, framed AI’s guest-side effect in practical terms. “When I think about how it’s going to affect a guest, I think of ‘frictionless’ and ‘customized experience,'” she said. “We’re taking out the middle man. We’re putting our guests just closer to what they actually want.”
Scott Strickland, chief commercial officer at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, sees AI as another booking channel. Guests now query generative tools for options, then often book direct if loyal. Soon those agents will carry loyalty data themselves. Voice conversations with AI agents sit six to 12 months away for early users, he noted. Wyndham is already building into apps to shape those flows.
Brands face a clear choice as agentic systems rise.
Lennert de Jong, CEO of Another Star, reminded the room that core demand endures. “In the end, it’s people. They need to stay in a hotel room — that’s been there forever and not going to change.” Yet he called out a long stall in experience gains. “I do think there will be a much bigger focus on the guest experience that has been neglected,” de Jong said. “One of the things that I’m not proud of is that in all these 25 years, we’ve barely been able to move the needle when it comes to guest experience, and especially in the last 10 years.”
Cost pressures accelerate the change. Margins sit near historic lows in many markets. Bleeker pointed to back-office savings as a primary driver. “There’s a huge, huge pressure on saving costs that may not have been there in the past, and I think that will drive a lot of innovation in the back office.”
McNamara described Aimbridge’s early use cases. The company applies AI to labor productivity tools and forecast accuracy. Staff gain hours back for higher-value work rather than outright replacement. “We’re giving them the tools in a very defined sandbox,” Strickland added on the brand side. The sandbox must expand, he conceded, because platforms still clash with real workflows.
Recent reporting shows the pattern holds beyond the panel. PhocusWire covered the same HITEC session, noting how distribution and guest experience dominated debate. Canary Technologies’ March 2026 survey of 404 IT leaders found 85 percent plan to allocate more than 5 percent of IT budgets to AI, with guest communications the top priority. Hotel Dive reported the findings.
Broader 2026 outlooks reinforce the distribution risk. IDC predicts agentic AI will mediate discovery, comparison, and booking by year’s end. The firm warns brands must feed first-party data into these agents or lose visibility. PwC’s hospitality outlook notes AI-driven personalization moves from differentiator toward baseline standard. The report highlights revenue management and cost efficiencies as direct payoffs.
Deloitte’s January 2026 analysis urges operators to treat AI as a predictive enterprise tool. Automation handles routine tasks so teams focus on guest needs and shifting demand. Eighty-one percent of hoteliers already prioritize employee productivity gains through these systems.
Fortune’s May 2026 piece captured the two-speed reality on the ground. Economy properties lean on AI for survival-level automation. Higher-end hotels use it to free staff for genuine service moments. Conversion rates on direct inquiries rise 20 to 35 percent where chatbots handle initial contact.
Workforce effects remain an evolution, not elimination. Panelists stressed training digital natives while keeping human oversight on high-stakes interactions. McNamara noted guests still seek the feeling of being away from home. Technology removes friction; staff restore connection.
De Jong’s point on stalled experience metrics lands hardest. Decades of channel and loyalty focus left on-property delivery underinvested. AI’s removal of distribution friction creates room to address that gap. Operators who treat the technology only as cost control will miss the larger opening.
The fundamentals endure. Rooms still need guests. Guests still want service that feels personal. AI simply compresses the path between intent and fulfillment. Brands and owners who adapt fastest stand to capture the margin that once flowed to intermediaries.
WebProNews is an iEntry Publication