In an industry built on hospitality, the worry that artificial intelligence turns guest interactions into something cold and transactional is understandable. But the executives actually deploying it tell a different story.

“AI is not changing what we do in hospitality,” said Julie Linn Teigland, global vice chair of alliances and ecosystems at EY, speaking on a panel entitled “AI and the Tech Shifts Shaping the Next Era” at Mews Unfold, Amsterdam. “It’s changing what we can imagine.”

What the hotel industry is imagining, it turns out, looks less like a robot at the front desk and more like a staff member who finally has time to look a guest in the eye. And as a result, Teigland argued, it will make sure every staff member has the bandwidth to actually cater to every individual guest, making every hotel experience one you’d typically only reserve for luxury stays.

AI fears have it all wrong

AI in hospitality doesn’t necessarily mean less human connection. Teigland, referring to AI as “augmented intelligence” for technology that elevates people rather than sidelines them, said AI will actually help improve how humans work in the business. “Technology should be elevating us, making us better, bringing in the human touch.”

The reality on hotel floors today, she added, is that it’s the lack of AI, rather than the presence of it, that’s making guest interactions feel transactional. Staff are buried in administrative work, from invoice matching to responding to messages across a dozen channels, forcing staff themselves to become robotic. The moments of genuine human connection get squeezed out in the process.

Mews co-founder Matt Archard made the same point to the same audience. “We’re not very often upfront with customers,” he said, “and that really is one of the real pain points about why we’re not creating magical moments.”

Getting personalized luxury experiences

Teigland believes AI is really about scale. “What if every guest felt like your only guest? Not your VIPs, not your loyalty members, not your big spenders, but every single guest?”

Normally, that kind of personalized attention has been the exclusive preserve of luxury travel. The economics didn’t allow it elsewhere, simply because an affordable hotel can’t devote that much attention to each guest. But AI changes that, allowing hospitality firms that deploy it for hyper-personalization to generate over 23% in additional revenues. AI-driven forecasting has improved cancellation rate prediction accuracy by 40%, giving frontline staff better information precisely when guest interactions matter most.

But none of that is automatic. Teigland stressed that technology alone doesn’t transform anything. “Transformation succeeds or fails with people, always,” she said. “Change never happens to people. It happens with your employees, your teams, and your partners.”

Hotels that deploy AI as a cost-cutting measure, like stripping out staff and calling it innovation, will likely prove the skeptics right. But that, according to Teigland, is a failure of leadership and not a failure of the technology. The hotels pulling ahead right now aren’t winning by reducing headcount, they’re putting better tools in the hands of the people already on the floor.