Innovative Service Models for Hotels

Everyone seems to agree: The future of travel is ChatGPT + Model Context Protocol (MCP). One prompt. One link. Job done. Simone Puorto just showed it in action. ChatGPT books a hotel in Rome. The Mercure Hotels Rome Cinecittà didn’t get the booking. Booking.com did. Not so fast. If that’s the whole vision, the future has no online travel experience. It's just an API call. Sounds simple. But what’s really happening under the hood? AI agents today are wrapper apps, thin orchestration layers. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. They can browse, yes. But they rely on shallow HTML parsing, basic plugin APIs, or MCP data feeds. They simulate intelligence. The next generation will do more: - Represent guest preferences, loyalty tiers, travel goals - Interpret structured and unstructured content together - Evaluate across multiple platforms: searching, comparing, reasoning - Ask for input and decisions from the user along the way And guess what? It's not your PMS that can speak to these AI agents. Your website and CRS must show them what makes you special. Can an agent tell the difference between your ocean-view suite and the one next door? If not, you're not competing. You’re invisible. Hotels need to evolve from static web pages and tech-oriented CRS to digital storefronts that collaborate with agents: 1- Create semantic content models (so AI can understand that “Petite” ≠ “Economy”) 2- Organize your content with Schema.org, JSON-LD, and GPT-friendly metadata (so AI understands both your intent and your identity) 3- Optimize for semantic search (so your hotel appears when guests search with meaning, not just keywords). 4- Provide dynamic content modeling (so your rooms, rates, and offers adapt in real time) 5- Support native agent communication (so AI can ask and answer intelligently) 6- Design contextual guest journeys instead of one-size-fits-all feeds 7- Use multi-modal user interfaces with images, video, copy, all tagged and agent-readable 8- Implement loyalty-conditional logic (so pricing, perks, and cancellation adapt to the guest) You may think being part of a giant chain will help. It won't. What you need is to speak the right language to agents and to guests. At Guestcentric, we’re not waiting for standards, MCPs or legacy stacks to catch up. We’re building the infrastructure hotels need to: - Show up in agent-powered discovery - Deliver nuanced, loyalty-aware offers - Connect emotionally and technically with future travelers Because the winning hotels of this next era won’t be the ones with the best slogans or biggest chains. They’ll be the ones that are: - machine-readable - emotionally resonant - technically agile Hospitality isn’t just a transaction. It’s a high-stakes conversation. Between the guest, the agent, and your brand. Make sure your hotel speaks the right language. #AIinTravel #Hypercommerce #Guestcentric #HotelTech #SemanticSearch #StructuredContent #GPT #DirectBookings #AgentEconomy #FutureOfHospitality

Recently, Hospitality Net asked their Digital Marketing in Hospitality panel how hotels could use AI to shift bookings from OTAs to their direct channels. You might find this answer interesting: In the near term, the biggest opportunities AI provides for driving direct revenue revolve around creating richer, more personalized experiences at each stage of the guest journey. Hotel marketers can use AI to better segment potential guests based on behaviors and deliver content and offers — at scale — that match those segments’ intent. Increasingly, you can let the AI select and orchestrate campaign messages, images, and offers that align with the needs of potential guests, and drive conversion. Similarly, these tools can provide intelligent rate displays and offer attractive upsell opportunities to guests to improve the revenue you achieve during each stay. Real-time guest service during the booking process, including chat, can help improve that experience and increase conversion rate.  Of course, the guest journey doesn’t end at time of booking. Again, savvy hotel commercial teams are beginning to put AI to work to upsell and cross-sell on-property experiences during the pre-arrival and on-property stages of the guest journey to drive greater share of wallet. And, of course, intelligent, automated post-stay campaigns are beginning to produce results in driving repeat bookings from past guests.  In the longer term, we’ve not yet seen how universal access to AI assistants will shape guest behavior. These tools are likely to shift the way guests interact with information and experiences every bit as much as the internet, mobile, and social media have. We should expect to see new marketing and distribution channels that make it easy for us to reach guests directly — and new gatekeepers who seek to insert themselves into that process. Every silver lining comes wrapped in its own cloud.  Regardless, these benefits come with a cost. Hoteliers must take a serious look at their existing tech stack and team skills to ensure they’re ready to put these tools to work. Take a look at the partners you work with. Do they make it easy to connect with new sales and marketing partners? Do they have a well-articulated vision for how they’ll incorporate AI into their products? Have they begun to deliver on that vision? If so, you’re in great shape. If not, it may be time to start looking at alternatives.  And, finally, don’t ignore your people. Does your team have the skills, the resources, and the vision needed to adapt to a changing customer and technology landscape? You will want to give them the support they need to quickly adjust as guest behaviors — and those of your competitors — evolve. The hoteliers who are able to learn the fastest, and put those learnings to use, are the ones most likely to succeed at driving more direct business as AI becomes more common. And there’s nothing artificial about that. #AI #hospitalitymarketing

Markus Mueller of GauVendi returns to Innovation Soundbites with 5 revenue-generating products. Here's what you'll learn: - GauVendi aims to revolutionize inventory management for accommodation providers by offering dynamic inventory solutions utilizing AI technology. - GauVendi challenges traditional static inventory management in hotels, introducing dynamic pricing akin to sales tactics and tailoring offerings to different customer segments. - The concept involves selling the same physical room in diverse ways to various audiences based on their preferences and willingness to pay, thereby maximizing revenue potential. - GauVendi's platform comprises multiple product modules, including the Next Generation IBE (sales engine), room assignment solutions, AI-driven pricing tools, and individualized distribution channels. - They've launched five products on their platform, with the sales engine gaining significant traction due to its ability to boost direct bookings and revenue. Flexi Channel, which allows exclusive product offerings to different OTAs, is also gaining popularity among customers seeking tailored distribution strategies. - Integration with property management systems (PMs) is streamlined and efficient, with an average onboarding time of three working days. - Clients report immediate revenue increases of 10-30% through direct channels, along with significant channel shifts and reduced inquiries due to transparent booking processes. Watch all the Innovation Soundbites episodes at the link in the comments below. #hoteltechnology #hotelrevenue Growth Advisors International Network - GAIN #hotelsales #hotelmarketing