At BTO 2025 in Florence, the air had that familiar charge that makes this event unlike anything else in Italy. BTO has spent more than fifteen years turning digital tourism into a living organism, a place where ideas collide, where people learn by exposure rather than instruction, and where new projects seem to appear almost by spontaneous combustion. It is the moment of the year when researchers, operators, and the usual tribe of innovators gather to compare notes, test intuitions, and understand where the industry is actually heading. It is also the main Italian meeting ground for anyone working in digital tourism who wants real conversations rather than polite showcases.
Inside this atmosphere, one session in particular drew the room’s attention. It appeared near the end of the program and carried the energy of something that wanted to open a new chapter rather than signal that the day was closing. Under the title Zero Click, Zero Friction, Romy Abbrederis, Founder and CEO of Lobby, set the stage by describing how her platform quietly automates quotes, bookings, room blocks, and a good portion of a hotel’s back-and-forth, using a direct bridge between the PMS and the inbox. At her side were Alessio Re and Simone Puorto, who had just introduced Elegia, the first AI orchestrator for hospitality, a layer meant to disappear into the background and change the way operations breathe without demanding attention.
Together, they looked at why the old way of running hotels is breaking down. They laid out a blueprint for a world where finding hotels and running them are completely changing. The group presented a vision that challenges the way the industry has operated for decades. Hotels are still running on workflows designed for an older version of the internet, based on clicks and manual searches. But guests have moved on. They now live in a world where they expect instant answers and immediate action. The panel took a hard look at this disconnect and treated it with the precision of a diagnostic session.
They started with a simple truth. The struggle of being a traveler and the struggle of being a hotelier are connected. Discovery and operations are both fragile right now. Simone Puorto explained that classic search has collapsed into the “zero click” era. Over 60% of searches now end without anyone clicking a link to a website. This isn’t just a dip in traffic. It is a total change in how information moves. Being visible isn’t about SEO ranking anymore. It is about being “readable” by AI models that don’t give you a list of links but provide a direct answer. Your website isn’t a destination anymore. It is a data source, and if machines can’t read your hotel, humans won’t find it.
From there, Alessio Re shifted the focus to the plumbing behind the scenes. He pointed out that even if you are visible, the hidden machinery of hotel tech is often too slow to keep up. Most systems update availability at intervals of 30 minutes or more. That makes hotels invisible to AI tools that expect real-time responses. The message was blunt: without digital architecture that works in real-time, even the best marketing story is irrelevant.
From there, the discussion shifted to hotel operations, where much of the daily pressure continues to fall on reservation teams. Romy Abbrederis outlined how intelligent automation can address the structural issues behind this workload without reducing human oversight. Drawing on her operational experience in her family’s 4-star hotel, she emphasized that email remains the primary channel for complex, high-value interactions such as group inquiries and corporate travel. She noted that meaningful automation in this area depends on deep, real-time integrations with property management systems, making interoperability and connectivity more important than ever.
This focus on connected, real-time operations set the stage for the broader conclusion of the session: the challenges facing hotels are no longer isolated within individual workflows but are symptoms of a system that must function as a unified whole.
The session wrapped up with a clear vision: a frictionless future isn’t sterile or automated just for the sake of it. It is a landscape where machines finally do the mechanical work they were meant to do. This leaves humans to handle the nuance and empathy.
The industry has a window of opportunity to adapt, but it won’t stay open forever. Those who clean up their data and update their culture now will define the standards for everyone else.
Romy Abbrederis
Romy Abbrederis is the CEO and Co-founder of Lobby. Her company builds AI agents to help hotel staff work smarter rather than harder. By automating time-consuming tasks like answering emails and entering bookings, Lobby lets hotels process requests in seconds. Her drive to improve operations is personal because she grew up in her family’s 4-star hotel in Liechtenstein. She worked in nearly every role, from housekeeping to management. Before founding Lobby, Romy worked as a software engineer in the gaming and banking industries. She is also the founder of the Vaduz Light Festival, which was the first of its kind in Liechtenstein and the first to be held in the Metaverse.
Alessio Re
“Data First, Talk Later” is the guiding principle for Alessio Re. Based in Zagreb, he is the founder of Klartika and the co-founder of Elegia, a new independent AI orchestrator for hospitality. Alessio specializes in marketing technology and AI solutions to help hotels navigate the messy world of data tracking and privacy. He views himself as an architect of tech ecosystems and cuts through vendor noise to build systems that actually work for the hotelier rather than the software companies. A true global citizen, he has lived in seven countries and visited over eighty. When he’s not fixing hotel data pipelines, you’ll usually find him hunting for Zagreb’s best specialty coffee or craft beer.
Simone Puorto
Simone Puorto is a techno-philosopher, consultant with over 25 years of international experience, and the prolific author of five best-selling books exploring the intersection of technology and the travel industry. He is Head of Emerging Trends & Strategic Innovation at Hospitality Net, the leading global platform for hospitality professionals. Simone also serves as a board advisor to more than a dozen global tech companies, including BWG Global, RobosizeME, Sleap, and E23. He is the founder of several innovation-driven ventures at the forefront of hospitality and technology, including Travel Singularity, Elegia, and Rebyū. Simone made history by organizing Polybius, the world’s first hospitality event held entirely in the metaverse. In the academic sphere, he is a respected MBA lecturer, and his written work includes over 300 published articles featured on leading platforms, in addition to more than 100 others published under pseudonyms or as a ghostwriter. He describes himself as a “digital bodhisattva,” blending philosophical inquiry with technological advocacy to relentlessly explore and expand the boundaries of human potential.
About Elegia
Elegia is the independent AI orchestrator for hospitality. Founded by industry innovators Simone Puorto and Alessio Re, the company designs and implements bespoke technology ecosystems that optimize operations, enhance guest experience, and drive sustainable growth. With independence as its core value and foresight as its guiding principle, Elegia empowers hoteliers to navigate the complexity of AI adoption and transform innovation into measurable competitive advantage. Learn more at elegia.io.
