At last week’s HSMAI Commercial Strategy Conference, revenue managers, DOSMs and GMs came together around a shared realisation: the traveller’s journey has already gone AI-first. The conversation wasn’t about whether to respond — it was about how to move fast and move smart.

We opened with a pulse-check: how many of you use AI daily? The hands went up slowly. Yet 70% of travellers already use AI across their entire journey — researching, comparing, booking, reviewing. The gap between where guests are and where hotel operations sit has never been wider.

The conversation surfaced real pain: 50% of revenue opportunities lost to manual decisions. 70% of marketers still can’t explain poor ROAS. 80% of revenue teams spend two days a week on reports that should be automated. These aren’t technology gaps. They’re strategic ones.

The hotels winning right now have made AI the connective tissue across the guest journey. Not a stack of tools — one intelligent system.

Three Things to take back to your Team

Be Visible Show up at the right moments with the right message. AI-led demand marketing puts you in front of high-intent travellers before they reach OTAs.

Be Personal Personalise every touchpoint — from first search to post-checkout. Guests expect it. AI makes it operationally possible at scale.

Be Optimised Stop managing room revenue in isolation. AI connects pricing, distribution, and ancillary to maximise total guest value — not just ADR.

“What stood out in this discussion was that the industry is moving beyond talking about AI as a future concept — the leading commercial teams are now focused on how to operationalise it in practical, measurable ways across the guest journey. The hotels seeing results are not simply adding more technology, but building smarter commercial practices that connect marketing, revenue, distribution, and guest experience together.” — Jackie Douglas, President, HSMAI Asia Pacific