The hospitality industry’s ongoing efforts to understand guests’ personal preferences and meet them through data collection and using AI are in danger of being “creepy”.
Hoteliers around the world are constantly seeking to improve their offering to customers by understanding their individual wants and needs to ensure they want for nothing when staying with them.
However, IHG Hotels & Resorts SVP managing director, luxury and lifestyle Leanne Harwood says hoteliers must also start considering where to draw the line, especially when it comes to the privacy consumers expect once they have closed their room doors.
She adds: “There is a point where it becomes almost creepy and customers feel you’ve crossed a line and you’re in my space now.
“What we’re trying to do is to be respectful of people’s privacy and yet still make a bespoke experience in the best way that we possibly can.”
Harwood says a key way IHG have ensured they are not crossing boundaries is by operating a loyalty programme that allows guests to choose their own rewards.
“It’s about giving guests choices, rather than overstepping the mark,” she adds.
Cortner Group managing partner Raj Chandnani agrees, saying: “I too struggle with this delicate balance between privacy versus anticipating the guest’s needs and the way I reconciled it was to think did they do something that was meaningful to me?”
He also argues that just as consumers have become used to brands such as Amazon or Netflix making recommendations on future purchases or television programmes based on past choices, so a similar opportunity awaits the travel industry.
“It’s about really understanding and anticipating our needs,” he adds.
The inevitability of AI
While privacy concerns will always be an issue, HotelPlanner chief executive Tim Hentschel believes that the point of no return has long been passed when it comes to AI and its technological dominance.
He says: “You’re seeing an inflection point, just like we got rid of fax machines for email and got rid of traditional media for social media back in 1999 or 2000 there was a huge change as well all got connected to the internet.
“Now we’re going to be connected through AI devices, we just need to embrace what the future holds so that we aren’t left behind as corporations or hotels.”
However, Hentschel argues that hotels have not learnt the lessons of previous technology revolutions such as online distribution which allowed OTAs to step in and drive up distribution costs even as they drove occupancy levels to a peak of more than 90 per cent.
Chandnani believes hotels need to archive the data they collect from customers in order improve their stays and even share this data with rivals for the good of the consumer.
“The big thing is listening to the guest and then recognising that [personal data] and somehow archiving that for future use,” he adds.
The growth of bleisure
Aside from technology’s constant march, Equinox Hotels global head development and acquisitions Shafi Syed says the trend for bleisure travel – business and leisure combined – is continuing to grow.
He adds the trend has been prevalent at its Hudson Yard property in New York where people go to use the Equinox gym, then stay afterwards to make use of the hotel’s facilities.
Syed says: “[The gym] brings that community into the hotel spaces … they’re finishing up their workouts and then hanging out in the lobby or in the bars, co-working and meeting people.
“We wish we had more meeting space because 30 or 40 per cent of our guests want to host meetings there.”
Harwood agrees the trend is just as prevalent at IHG with many business travellers, particularly younger ones, bringing their partners or families with them and staying for a few extra days after their work is done to enjoy the location together.
She says: “We also need to make sure we build the facilities that are appropriate. You can’t just build a hotel any longer that’s all just about business.
“You have to look at all the facilities and how you’re going to operate it – you have to think wider and be more encompassing.”
Chandnani adds with customers becoming increasingly focused on experiences, hotels must now start sharing their offering with customers on their websites instead of onsite, adding: “People are selecting their destination based on those experiences.”
And Hentschel argues that with people now having the power to book a hotel simply by pulling a smart phone out of their pockets, the hotel industry will benefit from increased numbers of same-day bookings as consumers factor in a hotel stay as part of an evening out.
“That incremental revenue is only possible because the technology is so easy,” he says.
All those quoted in this article appeared on stage at IHIF, held in New York, USA, between 31 May – 2 June 2025, in a session called: Maintain momentum in leisure: Ensuring returns in evolving market conditions.