Finance, Op Planning & Forecasting

In today’s hospitality environment (see our previous article), “do more with less” has become more than a mantra, it’s a structural necessity. Modern workflow automation has reached a mature stage; it’s a practical, proven lever for operational transformation. But for hotel executives, the real question is how to start effectively.

Based on extensive industry research and expertise from EHL faculty members and the EHL’s renowned network of industry leaders, the EHL Insights Report: Hospitality Outlook 2026 offers an in-depth perspective on where the industry is heading in the coming years.

Earlier this week, I found myself at Expedia Group’s Roman offices, seated across from Elisa Ragno for Guess the Guest. The plan, at least on paper, was simple: talk about AI and hospitality. What happened instead was closer to a dérive, a drift across the borderlands where travel, technology, and human complexity leak into each other. Elisa had the admirable courage to ask real questions and the even greater courage to let me answer them without a safety net.

An important guiding principle for hotel design, in-room features and public amenities is, “As one does at home, one will soon expect at hotels.” What this implies is that if hotels are not keeping up with the trends, then they are either losing bookings or will have a hard time growing nightly rates beyond what the commoditized market-determined price commands.

In an industry defined by rapid change and relentless competition, leadership transitions can determine whether a hospitality firm adapts or falls behind. This article unpacks how CEO turnover can become a lever for innovation, exploring who drives the boldest transformations, which organizational structures amplify or constrain them, and what these dynamics mean for boards shaping the next generation of leaders.

There’s an explosion of talk about AI in hotels, but very little actual application. Or is there? AI has been coming to hotels for a while, but not in the flashy, headline-grabbing way many expect. There won’t be a moment when a chatbot takes over the front desk or a robot manages your F&B logistics overnight. Instead, AI is creeping into every corner of hotel operations in small, incremental ways. Quietly. Invisibly. Often without anyone calling it AI at all.

Investors have read the situation correctly. In a turbulent real estate market, hotel assets still stand tall — in fact, they outperform. Week after week, I see it clearly on the ground. Ambition on one side, caution on the other, yet a shared conclusion: hospitality outshines other asset classes.

Despite global economic pressures, both business and leisure travel continue to grow, with global tourism rising five percent in the first six months of 2025. Amidst that growth, the sector is becoming increasingly competitive as more destinations seek to boost their economies and create jobs through tourism.

Undoubtedly one of the oldest commercial activities in the world, hospitality has constantly reinvented itself, sometimes simply by returning to its roots. During its expansion phase, it initially relied on new standardised concepts, seeking to respond in scale to the ever-increasing growth in travel accompanying the urbanisation of the Baby Boomers. Then it remembered the days when the inn was the centre of the village, the expression of local life and a meeting place for different generations and cultures.

The final U.S. hotel performance forecast of 2025 is in – and it’s not the news many hoped for. According to the latest from CoStar and Tourism Economics, both 2025 and 2026 projections have again been downgraded across occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR, signaling a tougher environment ahead.