Before buying AI for your hotel, find the friction
Most hotels rushing to buy AI don't have a technology problem. They have an application problem. Hospitality Net makes the point in The Friction Finder and it reads like the most honest diagnosis I have seen in weeks, because it puts the focus where it hurts: software doesn't fix a process nobody has looked at first.
The argument is simple. Before signing with any platform, a hotel should identify which operational workflows are worth improving and which are not. Check-in, incident handling, group billing, post-stay complaints, upsell at the front desk. They don't all weigh the same on the P&L or on the guest experience, and many can be streamlined without spending a cent. Out there, hotels are buying AI tools to patch a badly designed process they have been dragging along for years.
My read is that this opens an interesting door for the industry: the upfront operational audit becomes a competitive edge. A revenue manager who knows which friction to remove is worth more than one who only knows how to configure a pricing engine. Before asking which AI to buy, the useful question is what I stop doing by hand. And only the person walking the property has that answer.
Quick questions
What should a hotel do first before investing in AI?
Does buying AI fix a badly designed hotel process?
Which hotel workflows usually carry the most friction?
Does this also apply to airlines and OTAs?
Which role gains weight in the hotel with this approach?
Was this article useful?
The daily brief
Notitur in your inbox
One sharp travel-industry brief a day. Free.
Editorial content by Notitur. It may contain errors. Verify anything important with the original source.
This article may mention third-party products, companies or services for informational purposes. Notitur does not endorse them and is not responsible for them or for what they offer. Editorial content curated by the Notitur team.