Think about the last few times you checked into a hotel. Did you ask for a room away from the lift? Extra water? A firmer pillow? Perhaps you requested the same thing on your previous stay too. Now imagine checking in and not having to ask again. As hotels use more artificial intelligence and guest data, remembering these little preferences could become a much bigger part of your stay. The interesting bit is not necessarily a robot delivering towels or a chatbot answering questions at midnight. It is something far less dramatic. Your hotel could simply get better at remembering you.
Because you had a morning flight, an early breakfast.
And that last bit matters. One wants dinner quickly and perhaps an ironing board before an early meeting. The other may need adjoining rooms, restaurant recommendations and something to keep the children occupied. There is another side to all this personalisation. A hotel knowing that you usually order black coffee is useful. A member of staff noticing that you are rushing out for an early flight and asking if you would like that coffee packed to go feels very different. That is the line hospitality still has to get right. Mathur believes technology cannot replace the human element of a hotel stay. Travellers may use technology to plan holidays and manage parts of their stay, but what tends to stay with them is the welcome, the service and their experience at the destination. And perhaps that is where AI becomes most useful in hotels. If technology can handle repetitive requests, routine information and some of the administrative work happening behind the scenes, hotel teams potentially have more time to pay attention to the people actually staying there. Here’s what to know about the Grand Train Tour
The business traveller arriving at 10 pm probably has very different priorities from the family checking in for a three-day holiday. Destination Buzz: Planning a Switzerland train holiday in 2026? Because nobody comes home raving about how efficiently their preference data was processed.
“For an industry where every guest looks for something different, this could make a meaningful difference,” says Mathur.
