The future of hotel marketing is often presented through bold predictions, emerging technologies and plenty of hype—but what is genuinely changing, and what matters to resort marketers right now?

Drawing on real-world experience across Asia Pacific, Mark Shrives will offer a practical perspective on the forces reshaping how travellers discover, choose and book hotels. From AI and changing digital behaviour to personalisation and the evolving role of hotel marketing teams, he will separate meaningful developments from passing noise and explore what commercial leaders should prepare for next.

This keynote is designed to keep the future grounded in today’s realities—helping hoteliers understand what is already happening, what is likely to come next and where they should focus their attention, investment and capability-building.

HSMAI commissioned eMarketingEye to examine how prominently Phuket resorts appear across leading AI platforms—and how the destination compares with competing resort markets.

In this fireside chat, eMarketingEye CEO Rajitha Dahanayake will reveal key findings from the *AI Visibility Report for Phuket Resorts, September 2026*. Discover how AI platforms are influencing accommodation research and recommendations, where Phuket resorts currently stand, and what may be helping—or limiting—their visibility.

The discussion will help resort leaders:

• • Identify gaps in your digital presence within AI ecosystems
  • Benchmark your brand against top-performing competitors
  • Understand emerging trends in AI-driven discovery
  • Make informed decisions on marketing, content and distribution.

Every attendee will receive a copy of the report.

Today’s travellers are not simply choosing a room—they are choosing how they want to feel, connect and spend their time. But what turns an ordinary resort activity into an experience guests will value, share and pay for?

This session explores how resorts can use guest insights, local culture and creative partnerships to design distinctive experiences that strengthen their positioning and generate commercial value. From wellness and dining to nature, culture and family activities, attendees will learn how to move beyond standard resort offerings and create experiences that attract attention, influence bookings and become memorable parts of the guest journey.

As hotels gain access to increasingly similar data, revenue systems and AI-powered recommendations, are they at risk of making increasingly similar pricing decisions?

This session challenges traditional thinking about what creates commercial advantage when every competitor can analyse demand and adjust rates at speed. Michael Belanger will explore what this shift means for General Managers and commercial teams—and where hotels should look next to outperform their market.

Time-permitting, we’ll open up the floor to questions for any of the speakers from the morning session./span>

HSMAI updates on events and education in APAC followed by an update from the Phuket Hotels Association

This session will address some of the latest travel and technology trends coming out of China, which are reshaping tourism and hospitality booking and experience delivery. Too often, Chinese travellers are viewed as an outbound cohort whose interactions begin the moment they arrive at the airport of their chosen destination. But Chinese domestic tourism is the sandbox for a range of dynamic new travel services, experiences and AI interfaces that influence the expectations and behaviours of Chinese tourists when they visit your hotel, your city, your resort and your local communities. Some of these are also already being adopted by tourists from ASEAN countries. What is taking place in Chinese travel and tourism today is radical, and will transform how APAC tourism marketers and planners develop and prepare their strategies. This session goes far beyond the “China Ready” presentations of yesteryear, and delivers real-time updates, case studies and analysis that travel and hospitality professionals need to know about as competition to attract tourists becomes ever-more competitive across the region..

Every interaction with a guest is an opportunity to generate revenue, strengthen loyalty, and enhance the guest experience. This session explores how leading resorts are using AI to connect the guest journey – from booking through to post-stay – to deliver personalized experiences, streamline operations, and unlock new revenue opportunities.

Key Takeaways:
* Identify the guest touchpoints with the highest commercial impact.
* Learn a practical framework for implementing AI across the guest journey.
* Leave with actionable strategies you can apply immediately to increase revenue and improve guest satisfaction.

How can resorts attract diners who aren’t staying at the hotel? This panel explores how standalone digital identities, hyper-local search, social storytelling, targeted advertising and booking platforms can help resort restaurants reach local residents and travellers staying elsewhere. It will also examine influencer partnerships, events, day-pass packages and seasonal campaigns that generate incremental F&B revenue and position resort restaurants as destinations in their own right..

Being found is no longer the finish line; being confidently understood is. For Asian resorts, frequently changing information around transfers, seasonality, dining, accessibility & activities must remain consistent across owned, 3rd-party & AI channels. Attendees will learn to identify & reduce the gap between operational reality & digital truth.

A bookable room is not enough if AI cannot understand and verify the rest of the stay; from transfers and dining to activities. The session will examine how hidden guest “vetoes” & unstructured experiences can quietly remove a resort from consideration & how to make the complete stay, including access, dining & activities, more understandable & actionable.

Recommendation readiness isn’t the same as transaction readiness. As AI progresses from suggesting resorts towards helping guests compare, assemble & potentially book stays, attendees will learn to identify where automation still breaks & measure if their resort isn’t merely mentioned, but also accurately matched, credibly supported & commercially actionable.

Where are your future guests really spending their time—and which marketing activities genuinely influence them to book? Hotel marketing is often assessed through channel-level ROI and the booking that receives the final click. But this can undervalue the digital activity that creates awareness, builds consideration and introduces new guests to the resort long before the booking appears through a direct channel or OTA. Using a real-world example, Mark Shrives will demonstrate how resorts can look beyond traditional attribution to understand where their customers actually are, how different touchpoints contribute to the booking journey and which investments generate truly incremental demand. Attendees will learn how to make more informed targeting and budget decisions—and build a stronger commercial case for digital marketing.

Hotels are no longer short of guest data—but many are still struggling to turn it into commercial action. AI can now interpret not only transactions, but also guest sentiment, behaviour, preferences and requests across reviews, conversations and previous stays.

This session explores what a true 360° guest view can unlock, from more relevant campaigns and better-timed upselling to smarter loyalty strategies and repeat bookings. TrustYou will show how hotels can move beyond simply collecting data and begin using what they already know to generate measurable direct and repeat revenue—with practical guidance on where to start.

Mehmet (Mat) Aylanc won an award at the 2026 HSMAI Commercial Awards in 2026. Mehment will present the Case Study that won him the Award to inspire some idea for your own Resort Marketing or Strategy, don’t miss it.

What do you do when enterprise revenue technology is out of reach? You build your own. Mat Aylanc, Commercial Manager at The Bell Pool Villa Resort in Phuket, shares how a 16-villa independent resort used AI-assisted development to create its own revenue intelligence platform from the ground up.

From analysing booking windows and demand patterns to testing pricing scenarios and forecasting performance, the system turns live hotel data into practical commercial decisions. The result has been faster decision-making, stronger ADR and direct bookings, clearer forecasting and less reliance on manual reporting.

This practical case study shows that smaller resorts don’t necessarily need bigger technology budgets to work smarter with AI — they need the right data, a clear commercial problem to solve, and the willingness to experiment.

“Asia’s travel landscape is changing. Established source markets are evolving, new outbound travellers are emerging and resort destinations are competing harder for their share.> 

Drawing on current Asian travel trends and his experience across global tourism markets, Dr Jens Thraenhart will explore who is travelling, where they are going and what could change next. From Phuket’s traditional source markets to emerging opportunities such as Saudi Arabia, this session will examine the Asian destinations gaining attention, the factors influencing traveller choices and what these shifts could mean for Phuket’s resorts.”> 

Resorts offer far more than rooms—from dining and spa treatments to activities, upgrades and special experiences. Yet many of these remain difficult for guests to discover, book or purchase.

This panel explores how connected technology and confident frontline teams can turn existing resort amenities into stronger commercial opportunities. From making experiences easier to find, reserve and transact, to equipping employees with the knowledge and confidence to make relevant recommendations, the discussion will examine how people, systems and operations can work together to generate incremental revenue—while making guests feel they are being helped, not sold to.

What defines luxury for today’s resort traveller? Is it still recognised through status and service, or increasingly through privacy, personal wellbeing, authentic cultural connection and the freedom to experience a destination on their own terms?

Bringing together perspectives from independent luxury hotels, resort operators and global hospitality brands, this panel will explore how guest expectations are changing—and whether traditional definitions of luxury are keeping pace. Panellists will examine what different luxury travellers genuinely value, what they are willing to pay more for and how resorts can translate those expectations into distinctive experiences, stronger positioning and sustainable commercial value.

This session focusses on the importance of utilizing AI, a tech platform and good old fashioned business development as a foundation for any successful hotel. Learn the right the skillset and mindset needed to capture more than fair market share through human efforts supported by modern tools.