During the “Views from the Boardroom” panel at the HICAP conference held in Singapore in October, leaders from Ascott, TUI, Global Hotel Alliance and Outrigger agreed: the next wave of disruption won’t come from distribution channels, but from who controls the data, algorithms, and engagement layers that connect hotels to travellers.

 From search to source: A new distribution battleground

Jeff Wagoner, President & CEO, OUTRIGGER Hospitality Group, recalled how the industry surrendered distribution control two decades ago.

“Back in 2002 and 2003, we all basically gave up our distribution – we were desperate to drive business,” he said. “Now, AI isn’t just about asking questions and getting answers. It’s about shaping the entire search and soon, it will be the source of booking decisions.”

He described a future where conversational AI agents, not traditional search engines or booking sites, guide consumers to hotels. The challenge? Whose data feeds these AI systems and how those systems decide which hotels to recommend.

“When you say, ‘Show me four hotels in Waikiki,’ AI will decide what comes up first. It might show brand sites, OTAs, or meta-scraped content. But make no mistake – someone will want to monetize that ranking,” Wagoner warned.

It’s a scenario that could either help hotels reclaim visibility or deepen their dependence on third parties, depending on how fast they adapt.

 The data race: From loyalty to learning systems

Christopher Hartley, CEO of Global Hotel Alliance, took the argument further, linking AI’s evolution directly to loyalty ecosystems and customer ownership.

“The industry has to be careful – if your customers are owned by a third party, then eventually AI will be circling your customers, not you,” he said. “If you can’t engage directly, you’re just giving away margin. That’s what’s happening today.”

Hartley sees AI not as a threat but as a multiplier for scale, personalization, and loyalty — provided hotels invest in the right data foundations. Global Hotel Alliance recently merged its independent brands under one digital loyalty platform, aiming to pool customer insights and behaviour data to compete with the “mega systems” of Marriott Bonvoy or Hilton Honors.

“Independents need to aggregate,” he said. “Otherwise, they’ll never reach the data density to train and deploy AI at meaningful scale.”

AI as a force multiplier for brand experience

For Kevin Goh, CEO of The Ascott Limited, the promise of AI lies in re-personalising hospitality at scale.

He framed it as a shift from property-driven to guest-driven brands — “putting the customer at the centre” and letting technology follow.

“The brand can go across different typologies – serviced apartments, city hotels, residential – as long as the customer recognizes and connects with it,” he said. “AI helps us understand that customer better across touchpoints.”

Ascott, which operates both long-stay and short-stay models, sees AI not only as a marketing engine but as a tool for yield optimization and operational flexibility – dynamically switching between segments based on demand and traveler intent.

Efficiency meets empathy: The TUI perspective

Managing Director – APAC & Americas, TUI Hotels & Resorts, Huilian Duan highlighted another dimension – AI as an efficiency catalyst for global operations. From clustering hotel portfolios to predictive resource planning, she emphasized that AI-driven systems are already improving “operational efficiency and diversification.”

Yet she cautioned that adopting AI is not just about automation: “Working with AI requires investment – not just in systems but in mindset. It’s about using data to support the customer journey from inspiration to leisure.”

Her point echoed a theme across the board – that while AI may cut costs, its real value lies in enhancing the guest experience, not replacing it.

 The race for AI-driven discovery

Two decades after hotels ceded control to OTAs, the conversation has come full circle. Back then, distribution was about inventory and pricing; now it’s about data and influence. AI represents both the threat and the opportunity – to be visible in the new recommendation layer, and to deliver the seamless, personalized journeys travellers increasingly expect.

As Wagoner put it, “We’re at a really interesting moment. The next year will define how hotels show up in AI-driven discovery. The ones who figure out how to feed, train, and talk to these systems – they’ll win back share.”

by Yeoh Siew Hoon