Revenue Management & Channel Opt

The business community has welcomed artificial intelligence as a key means of adapting to today’s changing workforce and recommending actions based on data analytics; however, according to experts, the hotel industry has yet to leverage it fully. A recent study by McKinsey found that as many as 78 percent of respondents say their organizations use AI in at least one business function, a 6-percentage-point increase from 2024. With so many core processes now informed by AI, hoteliers must bring these capabilities into the heart of their operations: the property-management system.

Despite its critical role in hotel profitability, revenue management remains one of the most misunderstood functions in hospitality. Often considered a dull, technical aspect of occupancy metrics for large chains, hotel revenue management has easily been written off as being just about numbers and pricing. In reality, it is a strategic, creative discipline that can unlock significant value across all types of hotels and operations.

Africa’s transformation story is often centred around infrastructure. Cables, towers, devices, datacentres. However, transformation doesn’t start with hardware; it starts with people, with connections and insights on platforms designed to help companies understand their customers and serve them more effectively. As Mandla Mbonambi, CEO of Africonology, points out, African businesses need technology solutions flexible and agile enough to thrive despite the challenges of infrastructure, and that are localised and capable of growing with them.

There are few hotels in the world that stop you in your tracks. Not because of over-the-top opulence or theatrical design, but because the experience just feels right. Ett Hem, a stunning townhouse tucked away in residential Stockholm, is one of those rare places.

Independent hoteliers are bombarded daily with technology vendors pitching miracle solutions. Everywhere you turn, there’s another acronym, another platform, another promise to "transform" your property—if only you buy their product first.

The guest review score is a critical KPI for accommodation providers, influencing everything from OTA visibility to guest trust. So when Booking.com announced a major update to how these scores are calculated, the hospitality industry understandably had questions.

Hotel technology can get complicated. If I had to explain why this is to a kid or a golden retriever, I would say it’s because we used the best tools at our disposal at the time, stitching things together as best we could over years or even decades, and then tried to continuously pivot to newer, better systems while keeping the engine running.

For a long time, accommodation, which evolved into hospitality, was a key component of the travel chain. It was an essential link, certainly, but it came at the end of the transportation chain and served as the starting point for the chain of tourist or business activities. This travel chain created – and still creates – a variety of ecosystems with their specialized actors: transport providers, accommodation providers, receptive agencies, leisure sites, restaurants... Solid by nature, yet often rivals, even antagonistic, when it comes to sharing the value chain.

After three decades in hospitality technology, we’ve watched countless operational trends come and go. But AI concierge tools represent something different, they’re not about replacing the human touch that makes hospitality special. Instead, they’re about freeing your team to deliver more of it.

In today’s hospitality sector, discussions among hoteliers invariably lead to artificial intelligence (AI). Announced as a transformative force, AI is poised to redefine everything from guest services and dynamic pricing to predictive analytics and content creation. However, a significant gap exists between this potential and its current implementation. This raises critical questions: what is the true state of AI adoption in the industry and what primary obstacles are impeding its progress?