Hotels Don't Need an AI Strategy | Harry Fielder

Hilton just embedded conversational AI into their booking process. Hyatt is rolling out ChatGPT across their properties. A new report from Canary Technologies shows 82% of hoteliers expect to expand AI usage this year. 71% are calling it "significant or transformative".

Every independent hotelier I speak to is asking the same question.

"Should we be doing something with AI?"

My honest answer? Not yet. Not the way you think.

The brands create waves. You ride them.

Hilton, Hyatt, Booking.com, Expedia. These companies have the power to shape customer behaviour. They can fundamentally change how people search, discover, and book hotels.

As an independent, you don't have that power. Even small groups don't.

And that's perfectly OK.

The big chains will always drive innovation at the top of the funnel. Your job isn't to compete with that. Your job is to be visible when AI does the recommending.

The top of the funnel is becoming AI-led. Discovery and search are already shifting. But building a trip planning chatbot on your independent hotel website? Nobody is going to use it. That works for Hilton with thousands of properties across dozens of markets. It doesn't work for you.

AI is already in your tech stack

Here's what most hoteliers miss.

AI is already being quietly baked into the tools you use every day. Your PMS. Your booking engine. Your ad platforms. Your revenue management system. It's already there, working in the background.

Before you spend a penny on anything new, take stock of where AI is already working for you.

A quick audit

Ask your vendors these questions:

What AI or machine learning features are live in the product right now?
What's on your roadmap for the next 12 months?
How does the system use our data to improve outcomes?

You might be surprised by the answers. Google Ads has been using AI for bid optimisation for years. Your RMS is almost certainly using predictive models. Your booking engine might already be personalising offers.

I keep meeting hoteliers who want to buy AI tools when they haven't even explored what their current stack already does. Start there.

Fix the thing that actually matters

Every AI product worth using depends on one thing.

Clean, connected data.

Revenue management, personalisation, predictive analytics, automated marketing. All of these are accessible to independent hotels right now. But they only work if your systems talk to each other.

Where it breaks down

Think about your guest data for a second.

Your PMS holds booking history and guest preferences
Your CRM (if you have one) holds communication history
Your booking engine captures browsing behaviour and abandoned bookings
Your restaurant POS knows what they ordered
Your spa system knows their treatment preferences

Now ask yourself. How much of that data flows between systems?

For most independents, the answer is very little. Guest profiles are fragmented across six different platforms. Nobody has the complete picture.

If your PMS doesn't feed your CRM, and your booking engine data sits in a silo, none of the AI products in the world will help you.

Data connectivity is the foundation. Not the shiny AI tool. The boring, essential plumbing that makes everything else work.

What to actually do

If you're running an independent hotel or a small group, here's my advice.

1. Audit what you already have

Understand where AI is already working in your current tech stack. Talk to your PMS vendor, your booking engine provider, your Google Ads account manager. Find out what's already live before buying anything new.

2. Map your data flows

Draw it out if you have to. Which systems talk to each other? Where are the gaps? Where is guest data getting lost between platforms?

Most hotels I work with find at least three critical disconnects in the first session.

3. Invest in integration, not new tools

Connect your existing systems before buying shiny new AI products.

A connected tech stack with basic tools will outperform a disconnected stack with premium AI every single time.

This might mean investing in middleware, APIs, or a proper integration layer. It's not glamorous. But it's what actually moves the needle.

4. Focus on visibility

As AI reshapes how travellers discover hotels, make sure your digital presence is ready for it.

Structured data on your website (schema markup, clean metadata)
Strong content that answers the questions AI tools are surfacing
Accurate, consistent information across every platform and OTA
A Google Business Profile that's actually maintained

This is how you show up when AI is doing the recommending.

The bottom line

The big chains will keep creating waves with AI. That's their job. That's what billions in R&D budget buys you.

Your job is different. Ride the waves. Don't try to create your own.

Be active about your foundations. Get your systems connected. Get your data clean. And let the AI products come to you.

You don't need an AI strategy. You need a data strategy. The AI will follow.