h2c, Choice and Harvest Hosts, Minor in Vietnam, GDS rate parity, Imserso and the end of the hotel funnel

The number that defines the day is not a funding round or an acquisition, it is that 91% of hotel chains already use AI while only 28% have an enterprise-wide strategy. That gap between enthusiasm and execution is the real battleground for the hotel business this autumn.

Today's brief

Hotel AI has entered its second phase and nobody wants to be left behind, yet the real capacity of most chains sits well below the noise. The h2c AI Opportunity Study 2026, built on 122 responses from 113 hotel chains, delivers headlines that should make any director of technology or operations think: mass adoption, very limited enterprise deployment. It is confirmed by Hospitality Net and reinforced by the firm's own take on connected agents.

Key findings:

• 91% of surveyed chains already use AI in some process, usually guest service or revenue tasks.
• Only 28% have an AI strategy across the entire company, rather than scattered pilots per department.
• The two main brakes are the lack of qualified talent and integration with live systems, not a lack of appetite.

My read: the industry has bought licences faster than it has reorganised teams and data. Until the PMS, the channel manager and the CRM all speak the same language, those pilots will keep being showpieces. The h2c study says it plainly and it deserves a full read.

And there is an uncomfortable counterpoint: the guest is running ahead of the chain. 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers reviews the same report against what consumers already do with assistants and AI-driven search. The conclusion is harsh but useful: if the guest already plans the stay with AI, the chain that does not automate its response loses contact at the exact moment it is worth the most.

Hotels

Choice Hotels has decided the accommodation of the future is also fought outdoors. The company has announced the acquisition of Harvest Hosts, the RV host network connecting travellers with farms, wineries and rural estates across the United States, in a deal valued at around $130 million. The news comes via Hotel Dive and Choice is buying 100% of the business.

The move makes strategic sense: Choice strengthens its outdoor footprint just as travellers want experience, not just a room. What nobody should lose sight of is the tech fit. Harvest Hosts runs on agile bookings, host commissions and a highly fragmented partner base. Plugging that into Choice's engine without killing the essence of the product is the real challenge, not the price tag.

The other relevant move of the day comes from Asia. Minor Hotels wants to stop being the Vietnamese beach resort chain and build itself an urban network in the country. Skift reports it and the reason sits in demand: domestic travellers are growing, corporate business is recovering and the meetings segment is moving rooms again. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the stated targets. It looks like the right call in a market where local travellers already pay city prices, and where international chains still have room downtown. Anyone with only resorts in Vietnam is leaving money on the table.

Agents, rate parity and the funnel that no longer fits

Distribution is looking at two fronts at once: how to get agents to sell more, and how to stop the hotel losing margin along the way. A survey of 756 travel agents leaves two conclusions that should be read together. First: 94% consider GDS rate parity highly important. Second, and juicier: their strongest reason to book an advertised hotel is a GDS-only offer. It is published by Hospitality.today, and the headline sums it up well: they want the same rate everywhere, yet they book the one nobody else has. Both things coexist without contradiction.

In operational terms: a hotel that opens a two-night rate only on the GDS wins visibility and recommendation, while one that does not stays on the long list. That is a clear opening for the revenue manager who knows how to segment channel instead of guarding rate blindly.

The second front is mindset. The industry still thinks in marketing funnel terms, with the traveller entering at the top and leaving at the bottom after booking, when the real purchase continues after the reservation closes. Smart Travel News makes the case and I agree: experience upselling, direct check-in, the spa package or the excursion are decided once the booking is done. A hotel that knows how to activate that moment recovers margin at a very low cost. One that still uses the classic funnel as a map keeps the base rate and little else.

Startups and funding

Sirma is bringing connected AI agents into hotel operations just as the sector sees them as the big lever for next season. The company has presented its bet on agents that connect daily operational processes, backed by the h2c study that places proactive agents as a key innovation area for 70% of surveyed chains. Full detail via Hospitality Net.

The promising part is not the agent itself, it is the connected approach. We have spent years watching brilliant booking assistants that sit isolated from the PMS. If they truly connect to operations, the value changes: fewer repetitive tasks, more assisted decisions and a more coherent guest experience. The same brakes from the study (talent and systems) remain and should be named, but this is where the interesting part of 2027 gets decided.

And a context note for anyone who missed yesterday's brief, where we already discussed how the commercial agent is running out of excuses: Bonafide hires Tim Sullivan to grow in agentic commerce.

Destinations and domestic market

The Imserso has kicked off with the first pensioners already travelling, and that is the best news of the week for the Spanish coast in low season. The state senior tourism programme has started its 2026/2027 campaign this Thursday 1 October, with a group heading to Oropesa on the first trip. The calendar coincides with the tail end of the season and gives breathing room to Mediterranean coast hotels that have spent months fine-tuning occupancy. Preferente reports it and notes that sales for this edition have been marked by uncertainty.

What matters for the professional: Imserso is a chance for stable occupancy, not a consolation prize. A hotel that knows how to sell add-on services to the senior traveller and adapt operations to their habits turns this season into a real cash cushion. And the window does not open twice.

There is another leg worth watching this week: group business. In the middle of the post-high-season hangover, eHotelier raises the obvious thing almost nobody executes: departmental silos leak revenue exactly when it is needed most. Group and event business does not happen in August, it is built in October. Anyone who does not professionalise it now will feel it in the first quarter of 2027. The competitive edge lies in having a team and a system that cover the whole group cycle, not a one-off push.

In 30 seconds

• 91% of hotel chains use AI, only 28% have an enterprise strategy.
• Choice Hotels buys Harvest Hosts for $130 million.
• Minor Hotels wants an urban network in Vietnam, not just beach resorts.
• Sirma brings connected AI agents to hotel operations.
• Imserso kicks off with the first pensioners already travelling.

My conclusion is clear: the hotel industry entered AI through the marketing door and is discovering the bill is paid in operations. Whoever connects agents, data and channel honestly before the year ends will be the one who does not have to explain in 2027 why their pilots never scaled. Technology is no longer the bottleneck. Teams and integrations are.