Diogo Canteras, Founding Partner - HotelInvest

The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the hotel industry has gone from being a distant trend to becoming one of the central pillars of competitiveness in the sector. The goal is not to replace people, but to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the quality of operational decisions. The starting point is understanding that a large part of hotel tasks are repetitive, depend on demand forecasting, and involve large volumes of data—exactly the type of activity where AI excels.

Processes such as pricing, inventory control, occupancy forecasting, and staff allocation can already be automated with a high degree of precision. This allows for real-time operational adjustments and optimized margins, especially in competitive markets. There are also significant gains in the guest experience, with virtual assistants, personalized recommendations, and immediate answers to simple questions. These resources free up teams to focus on strategic interactions, increasing the guest's perception of value—a value that is often not perceived, even with high investments in maintenance and physical infrastructure. AI helps direct efforts to what truly impacts the guest, transforming operational efficiency into a memorable experience. Investment in AI should consider three main factors: data quality, integration with existing systems, and the hotel's operational preparedness—that is, the existence of documented processes, clear roles, a trained team, data governance, and technological infrastructure capable of supporting and operating AI solutions. Without this foundation, even advanced technologies can generate inconsistent results or misguided decisions. Therefore, the data and process organization and standardization stage is as important as the adoption of the technology itself. 

Risks also need to be assessed. Excessive reliance on algorithms, integration failures, and privacy issues require clear governance and well-defined rules. Even so, for most businesses, especially medium and large ones, the benefits far outweigh the challenges.

In the current scenario, hotels that strategically adopt AI can gain operational efficiency, increase revenue, and strengthen their competitiveness. More than following a trend, it's about transforming data into decisions, and decisions into strategy. Ignoring this change means not only losing ground, but also giving up the ability to use information to create real and differentiated value.