Enabling AI-driven impact for hotels: A three-pronged approach

AI adoption is happening in hotels, and hoteliers are confident about the future role for AI in hospitality. While there are barriers and challenges as businesses come to understand AI adoption, there are positive ways AI is being applied. Here are three key areas that will influence the future of your AI-powered Find, Book, and Grow strategy.

AI is no longer part of the future for hotels – it’s happening now. Figures from h2c’s global study, AI & Automation in Hospitality, show that 78% of hotel chains are using AI today. Furthermore, 89% are planning additional AI applications.

Despite being an industry where the pace of technological adoption can be slow, hoteliers are rapidly seeing the value of AI. The h2c report shows they view business intelligence (78%), guest communication (77%) and digital marketing (72%) as the most valuable AI applications.
By 2030, more than four in ten hoteliers expect that reservations and call center functions, guest data management, revenue management, and digital marketing will be fully automated too. AI adoption in hotels is wide, but tactical. Hotels are looking to solve specific issues when they implement AI solutions. Seamless integration with existing hotel systems, reduction of repetitive manual tasks, and proven impact on revenue growth (70%, 69%, and 69%, respectively) are the top three investment decision factors. Thus far, a strategic, enterprise-wide approach to AI and automation is rare in hotels – but this will be essential to unlock the full value of the opportunities ahead.

So – willingness is here, implementation is happening – with a ‘testing the waters’ approach – and hoteliers are poised for AI to bring greater impact.

Cendyn has been central to the development and discussion of AI application in the hospitality industry. Let’s look at where AI is making a definite impact already.

1. Digital marketing 

A recent Skift article outlined how AI is impacting hotel marketing in different ways. Drawing on data from the Cendyn Hotel Digital Marketing Performance Index, the article notes how AI-powered marketing tools are helping hotels cut customer acquisition costs, offering immediate efficiency gains for routine tasks in hotel advertising.

The focus here is Google’s AI-based Performance Max for travel goals (PMTG) advertising tool, which recorded conversion rates more than three times higher than traditional methods. In addition, conversions jumped 262% so far this year compared with 2024.

Cendyn’s Performance Index found that PMTG is driving direct bookings, helping hoteliers offset multiple other channels, such as escalating advertising costs. It’s become a flagship campaign type for hotel marketing teams – a fully automated, cross-channel solution designed specifically for the travel sector.

Our data shows PMTG delivers strong results both as a standalone driver and as a halo effect across the broader media mix, enhancing overall campaign performance and return on investment. And behind the success of PMTG is AI, which is powering targeting and automation in a more effective way than other channels can offer. Its advanced machine learning capabilities interpret traveler intent, segment audiences, and optimize bids in real time, ensuring smarter targeting and higher engagement.

Cendyn’s Digital Marketing Platform (DMP) enables hotel customers to manage their multichannel advertising campaigns, and PMTG is a focus for many. One of our clients – La Chambre du Marais, experienced a 4.43% conversion rate through its PMTG campaigns, compared to an industry average of about 2%. The hotel also saw an outstanding 51x ROAS (with typical averages around 10x) and 252 conversions.

2. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) 

The nature of online search is changing with the rise of AI, and it’s not all about Google anymore. With AI helper tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude being increasingly used as search engines, hotels now need to be thinking about generative engine optimization (GEO).

Where search engine optimization (SEO) is all about ensuring your content is accessible to search engines like Google, GEO, a new branch of SEO, is about surfacing information to AI helpers. This requires content that is highly factual, authoritative, and formatted in ways that are friendly to AI embeddings and retrieval systems.

The main difference between SEO and GEO is that SEO helps your hotel rank higher on search engines, while GEO helps your hotel appear in AI-powered search results.

As outlined by Skift, well-organized and consistent hotel data is more likely to be read by AI helpers. Incomplete information or inconsistent details may be overlooked. The advice is that hotels should prioritize data structure, with continuously updated pricing displayed. It marks a shift in marketing from emotional brand building to solid data presentation.

Some hotels are busy making changes to be visible to AI helpers, according to PhocusWire. Changes include the introduction of comprehensive FAQ pages written in a conversational tone, and establishing more digital PR links to help AI tools see hotel content as trustworthy.

3. Data management

The key to hotels flourishing in an increasingly AI-focused world actually happens behind the scenes. Data that has been fully captured – and is structured, readable, complete and integrated – is what all types of AI need to function effectively and deliver results.

According to the h2c report, data sharing is a key challenge to scaling AI. Without quality, shareable data, implementing AI is difficult. And many hotels are currently struggling with data management. The report shows that 41% of hotels face barriers to effective data usage, which includes quality, accessibility, and integration issues.

Cross-departmental data sharing and silos are an ongoing issue too. Only 22% of hotels have a centralized data structure that feeds AI and automation tools, and only 21% have a centralized data platform.

Yet hotels are starting to recognize what needs to be done, and 50% see customer data management as the next greatest step. In particular, 51% of hotels are now using a CRM for enabling AI-driven personalization.

Data is the key to unlocking AI for hotels in terms of effective digital marketing, revenue management, optimizing internal operations, and ensuring AI helpers can find content. In response, Cendyn has been embedding AI capabilities across its products to meet these needs. This includes within the Cendyn CRM and Knowland platform, which provides AI-enabled analytics, analysis and business intelligence, offering hoteliers quickly accessible actionable insights.

Get AI-ready 

So, what do hoteliers need to do with their data and systems to reap the rewards of AI?

• Break down data silos by unifying guest data via a CRM, CDP and analytics.
• Remove team silos too – get on the same page, as well as on the same systems.
• Use your unified data to create better marketing campaigns. Consolidated data means better information about your audience, and improved personalization. As more AI is woven into digital marketing platforms and campaigns, performance will improve.
• Ensure there’s a single source of truth – this includes everything from single guest profiles (no duplicates) to room descriptions being consistent.
• Build up your bank of factual information about your hotel – cancellation policies, amenities, and local information. Publish it on your website and local listings such as Google Business Profile.
• Work with a partner investing in AI. Cendyn has expertise in PMTG, we’re enhancing the functionality of our CRM, DMP, analytics with AI, and we’re investing in APIs and MCPs that will deliver information to AI helpers.

Preparing for the deep integration of AI now is key if hotels want to maintain and strengthen their Find, Book and Grow strategies.