This insight summarises The Enterprise World Just Told Us Where AI Value Hides. Hotels Are Looking in the Wrong Place. by Are Morch, published on Hospitality Net in September 2026.
Hotels are pointing AI at the wrong stage. A Google Cloud study of 2,400+ executives found that "AI ROI Leaders" don't outspend the pack — they out-place. They embed AI where it compounds value, not where it feels safest to experiment. Hotels are doing the opposite: pouring AI into the booking stage, which is the most contested and lowest-return moment in the guest journey.
The data behind the reframe.
- 86% of executives agree AI drives cost-efficient growth.
- Winning companies differentiate through where they apply AI, not how much they spend on it.
- Most hotels concentrate AI investment in booking — where OTAs, meta, and now AI assistants have already commoditised margin.
The five-stage guest journey — and where value actually hides.
- Dreaming — largely ignored by hotels, yet this is where AI assistants are now shaping which properties enter the consideration set at all.
- Planning — under-served; an open lane for hotels willing to engage travellers before the OTA does.
- Booking — overcrowded; where hotels wastefully compete on price against distribution channels that own the surface.
- Experiencing — poorly optimised; AI should remove staff friction so humans can focus on the moments guests remember.
- Sharing — treated as an afterthought, yet reviews increasingly feed the AI recommendation engines that shape the next traveller's dreaming stage.
The line worth remembering: "You do not stop the booking leak by fighting harder in the booking stage. You stop it before the guest ever gets there."
What to shift:
- Redirect AI budget from the booking funnel toward dreaming and planning surfaces.
- Deploy operational AI to free staff, not replace them — enable the human moments AI can't manufacture.
- Treat guest-generated content strategically. Reviews are now training data for the systems that will recommend you next.
- Culture matters more than budget; small properties can win here.