Revenue Management & Channel Opt

When ChatGPT opened its Apps marketplace to 800 million users, Booking.com and Expedia were already there. Day-one partners. Ready to intercept travelers at the moment they start planning.

“But professor, will this be useful in real life?”

Expedia and Booking is not a duopoly. I said this some weeks ago when I got a sneak peek at the OTA research data.

Europe remains the world’s top travel destination, attracting millions of visitors each year to its cultural landmarks, diverse regions, and natural beauty. The continent’s diversity also drives strong intra-European travel, reinforcing a shared sense of European identity and local prosperity.

For years, we have treated robotics and Artificial Intelligence as separate workstreams. AI was “Soft”—it lived in the cloud, processed data, and generated text. Robotics was “Hardware”—it lived in the warehouse, moved boxes, and required expensive coding.

For over two decades, the battleground for hotel bookings has been defined by a struggle for control, with hotels on one side and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) on the other.

The African hospitality sector today is poised for a period of significant growth. Figures from Statista point to revenue in travel and tourism hitting US$25.29 billion this year, with hotels making up a significant US$11.29 billion of that. Hotels will also likely be a major beneficiary of tourism and travel’s projected growth of 7.31% leading up to 2030.But hospitality investors and operators can’t simply set up shop on the continent and expect to succeed with a business-as-usual approach.

It’s that time of year again. Crystal balls are out and pundits are busy predicting whether hospitality transactions will rise or fall. No one knows for certain, though everyone seems to have an opinion.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on every business leader’s mind at the moment, and this is no different in the hotels and tourism sectors. There is extensive research pointing to the potential productivity, financial, and operational benefits of AI, and businesses across the world are trying to capitalise on this exciting opportunity.

Hoteliers are telling us they are surrounded by tech-savvy guests, with many regularly turning to generative AI (GenAI) for recommendations on where to visit, stay, or eat. It can be exciting for travellers to discover hidden gems in cities they would have never otherwise found, or visit hole-in-the-wall cafes with unique menus. That heightened expectation of travel experiences is carried throughout their trips, which can add pressure on hoteliers to assess GenAI for how it can help to improve their business and customer experiences.