Whitney Spratt, General Manager of the Hotels Division at Tripleseat, sat down with us at HITEC 2025 to share how technology can unlock growth, improve guest experiences, and preserve the soul of hospitality.
A year of growth, fueled by loyalty and efficiency
Tripleseat is forecasting a 110% increase in revenue for its hotel division, and Spratt attributes that success to both new client growth and deepening relationships with existing users. Our customers are our best ambassadors
, she said. We’ve built a culture of listening, collecting feedback, and constantly investing it back into the product.
Efficiency is the word that comes up most often in client reviews, she noted. That’s really the role of Tripleseat, helping sales and catering teams work smarter, not harder, so they can spend more time with their clients.
Technology as an enabler of human connection
Spratt passionately rejects the idea that automation should replace the human side of hospitality. This is a people business
, she said. If you remove the human element, it’s no longer hospitality
.
Tripleseat’s features, automated email threads, live-updating documents, branded guest portals, are designed to empower teams to be more present with guests. Good tech works like magic. It operates with stealth, like ninjas
, she laughed.
The fine line: automate with intention
When asked whether there is a line the industry should not cross with automation, Spratt recalled her mother’s advice: less is more. You have to be intentional
, she said. The best Tripleseat users are the ones who ask, “How does this automation improve my customer’s experience?”
It’s not just about speeding up processes. It’s about personalization. Using tools like merge fields in auto-responses helps maintain that feeling of individual attention, she said. You want people to feel like you made an effort, even in automation
.
Netflix-style expectations and hospitality’s challenge
With 70–80% of what we watch now algorithmically suggested, consumer expectations have shifted. People want relevance, speed, and curation, and they expect it in every industry. They don’t want to be overwhelmed with options. They want just the right ones, right away
, said Spratt.
But hospitality must also remain warm and personal. You still follow up with a real conversation. You listen. You ask what they need. That’s what makes the difference.
Automation won’t replace humans, but it will empower them
Spratt acknowledged the growing fear around automation replacing jobs. But hospitality done right, by people who know how to do it, can’t be replaced
, she said. The human element is irreplaceable.
She sees technology as a tool to support teams in understanding guests better, not to replace them. The goal is next-level service, enabled by data, powered by people
.
About Tripleseat
Tripleseat for Hotels is the leading cloud-based group sales and catering management platform used worldwide. Tripleseat for Hotels makes it easy for sales teams to create and send group booking proposals in minutes, saving them hours a day and increasing productivity while decreasing workload. Tripleseat for Hotel’s features, paired with its integrated CRM and various software partners, make it the leading software for today’s hotel. To learn more about Tripleseat for Hotels or to schedule a demo, please visit, https://tripleseat.com/products/hotels/.
