OUTLOOK 2027 · CHAPTER 1 OF 6 · AI IN HOTELS

AI in Hotels 2027: Booking and the Back of House

Two shifts meet in this chapter. Guests hand the search, and soon the booking, to AI assistants. Inside the hotel, AI takes over reservations, pricing and administration. Both change what a hotel has to get right for AI in hotels in 2027.

Edited by Alon Shkuri · Updated 8 Nov 2026This chapter is open for a partner. Partner this chapter

Guests book through AI assistants

Klaus Spiekermann, general manager of Dolce by Wyndham, says the majority has moved from googling hotels to asking an assistant to book one. Adrien Mathieu of Kleio.ai calls the next step agent to agent, with the guest's assistant talking to the hotel's systems. Bart Hilgers, owner of Six Stars, adds that this is the part of AI no hotelier controls, the big chains included. Boney Mittal, co-founder of Zentrumhub, has read that SEO might be dead within a few years, because people go to ChatGPT and other AI tools to ask their questions.

People stay in the loop. Megan Becker, who has worked in reservations at Hershey Entertainment and Resorts for about fourteen years, expects guests to call just to check that the AI did not make something up. For 2027 that means making rates, rooms and policies readable for machines, and keeping a person ready for the guest who wants to be sure.

“These days, you no longer go or the majority, seems to have shifted from googling hotels, from googling trips, to going to Claude or ChatGPT or whatever is out there and say, book me a hotel in Zurich next week from this time to that time.”
Klaus Spiekermann, General Manager, Dolce by WyndhamListen from 04:10
“What we believe will happen is that you will see more and more what we call an agent to agent type of interaction, meaning that you will start your purchasing journey on your smartphone.”
Adrien Mathieu, CEO & Founder, Kleio.aiListen from 11:43
“The other part of AI that's going to disrupt the market quite strongly, and there's already the first signs of that, is something us as hoteliers, not even the big chains, are able to control, which is the way that people book hotels.”
Bart Hilgers, Owner, Six StarsListen from 35:09
“I think you're also going to see people who call in just to confirm that AI didn't hallucinate, and everything that it shared is in fact correct.”
Megan Becker, Reservations, Hershey Entertainment and ResortsListen from 29:53
“I think recently I read one of the articles which say SEO might be dead within, you know, few years because nobody's going to SEO. People are going to ChatGPT. People are going to AI tools to ask more questions.”
Mrigendra (Boney) Mittal, Co-Founder & CRO, ZentrumhubListen from 29:30

Mrigendra (Boney) Mittal in From API Chaos To Instant Hotel Bookings

AI runs the back of house

Adam Mogelonsky, a luxury hotel adviser, expects most of the AI utility to happen on the back end, so that the front end gets better. David Kijlstra, founder of a hotel consultancy, expects many reservations jobs to change within four or five years, because much of that work can already be automated. Sander Allegro, founder of Allegro INNovations, prefers to call it the heart of the house, and expects to see completely different things there.

Revenue management shows where this goes. Jason D'Agostino sees fewer revenue managers and more analysts who validate the revenue management system. Roz Hunter, a revenue management consultant, adds that a system does not replace the revenue manager; it makes the revenue manager more powerful. For 2027 the useful question is which tasks AI takes over, so the team has more time for guests.

“Most of the AI utility is gonna happen on the back end in order to make the guest experience even better on the front end.”
Adam Mogelonsky, Luxury hotel adviserListen from 25:09
“Reservations, I think we're going to see, like, so many jobs being done over there in the next four or five years because so much of the work reservations is doing can already be automated by good AI software.”
David Kijlstra, Founder of a hotel consultancyListen from 35:06
“What I see happening is the revenue manager role kind of not fading, but changing where you have less revenue managers and more analysts who are actually just validating our revenue management systems.”
Jason D'Agostino, Certified Revenue Management ExecutiveListen from 21:49
“Having a system is not replacing your revenue managers. It's just making them more powerful, and it will be the next level up.”
Roz Hunter, Revenue management consultantListen from 1:21:11
“In the heart of the house, which is a better name for the back of the house, you will see completely different things.”
Sander Allegro, Founder, Allegro INNovationsListen from 39:18

Jason D'Agostino in Revenue Management Belongs in the Center

What to do in 2027

Ask ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity to book a stay at your hotel, and read what they say about your rates, rooms and policies.
List the reservations and revenue tasks your team repeats every day, and pick the first one to automate.
Keep a person on the phone and in chat for guests who want to check what an assistant told them.

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How we made this

We read the guest contributions in the 131 episodes of the Future of Hospitality podcast, recorded with hotel operators, owners, investors, consultants and suppliers. AI helped sort the transcripts by topic. The editor chose the trends and checked every quote and every number word for word against the transcript.

Quotes are verbatim. Only words that were said twice in a row, such as “the the”, are left out, and names the transcript misspells, such as ChatGPT, are spelled correctly. Nothing is added or reworded. Every quote links to the moment in the episode where it was said. Edited by Alon Shkuri; see our editorial policy.