Here is my take: Generative AI technologies like ChatGPT are already democratizing the travel and hospitality industry, similar to what the the Internet, social media and mobile technology did.

Here the question is: who can and will take advantage of this democratization? The answer is simple: Only industry players who can invest in talent and technology. Guess who these are at the end of the day? The independent hotelier? The small tour operator? The traditional travel agency? The vacation rental host?

Nah, only the big kahunas such as OTAs, specialized OTAs like Airbnb and Viator, and major hotel chains, cruise lines, airlines and car rental companies who have the resources to invest and adopt AI.

In hospitality, except for the major hotel chains, hotels do not have the financial, technological and talent resources to select, train, implement and maintain generative AI bots like ChatGPT on their own.

The most immediate and logical implementation of generative AI in hospitality is in the form of chatbots and trip-building applications.

AI-powered hotel-specific chatbots like Asksuite and Quicktext are perfect for hotel websites of independents, midsize and smaller hotel brands, boutique and luxury brands. But what good can a chatbot do on a prehistoric, mobile-unfriendly property website, deprived of SEO and adequate digital marketing support and practically invisible to the traveling public?

Already thousands of third-party technology vendors have or are implementing generative AI and general AI in their applications and solutions.

The question is how many independent hoteliers will take advantage of these new AI-powered solutions and applications? 10%? 20%? 30%?

Ex. CRM technologies have existed for over two decades now yet only 10% of independents have implemented CRM, though without CRM you cannot have any meaningful repeat business.

I don’t expect huge adoption of AI applications in hospitality and especially by independents until hoteliers start investing adequately in technology - definitely more than the current 2.5% and in marketing from the current 2% of room revenue.

I am afraid, the ultimate winners of generative AI will be, once again, the OTAs. The OTAs are well prepared to make bookable any AI-suggested itinerary with their 2.5 million multi room accommodation establishments, 6 million vacation rentals, 500 airlines, 250,000 local experiences, etc.

This capability alone will increase dramatically the dominance of the OTAs and make them the ultimate winners in my book.

Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant & Strategist

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