The Columns

Ah, the excuses. The frantic gate announcements, the vague app notifications, the shrugs from airline staff who’ve clearly been coached to blame everything on the sky. Last week, as the…

Last year, after the summer holidays, I wrote about overtourism and why it is a dumb word, solving the wrong problem. When destinations become crowded, the quick response is usually some version…

I’ve touched on this subject before, but the sheer velocity of recent developments demands we return to the table. We are witnessing something truly remarkable: technology finally catching up with…

AI language models are changing how we interact with systems and technology. The point and click model is evolving for the first time in 30 years. This means the battle…

The term “value add” has always fascinated me, mostly because of the sheer mental gymnastics hoteliers perform to justify it. We throw “value add” around like it’s some revolutionary marketing…

There is a lot of thinking going into predicting what AI will look like in our industry. I think that is mostly futile. Ten years ago, very few people would…

We often hear about Enterprise Architecture in tech circles these days, don’t we? It’s the holy grail—neatly aligning your technology systems with your overarching business architecture to ensure operational capability.…

The word “trust” is currently taking an absolute beating in hotel tech. We’ve somehow convinced ourselves that third-party platforms hold a permanent monopoly on traveler faith simply because they spent…

“To dine or not to dine?” That is the question. Or at least, it’s the question I find myself asking as I stand in the lobby of a bustling eatery,…

The next seismic shift in capability—AI, automation, and digital platforms—is no longer coming; it’s here. It is the absolute operating reality above and within every hospitality business on the planet,…