If you spend any time in the hospitality space, you’ve seen scores of AI product launches in the past year. From upsell personalization and automated guest responses to demand forecasting and predictive revenue modeling, hospitality tech brands keep pumping out “AI-powered” features, with no end in sight.
But as hospitality tech companies rush to position themselves as AI-first, buyers and media are growing increasingly skeptical of the language. As a result, successful AI launches now hinge on clarity, credibility, and strategic communication; simply sticking an “AI-powered” label on a new feature won’t cut it.
PR acts as the bridge between bringing a new product to market and making it stick with the media and among customers. It’s the differentiator between a buzzword launch that gets lost in the noise and successfully communicating the innovation that sets your product apart.
Take a look at the mistakes hospitality tech brands often make when launching an AI product and how to mitigate these issues for AI launches that lead to increased brand credibility and sales.
Need support launching your new AI product? Abode’s expert PR services can help your STR or hotel tech brand stand out from the AI noise. Contact us today.
Don’t confuse automation with AI
There’s a difference between simply automating workflows and actual artificial intelligence. So don’t shout about an innovative AI product if what you’re offering is really just a way to reduce manual work.
When you label basic automation as AI, you undermine your organization’s credibility. Not only does this erode customer trust, but it’s also a PR red flag. Media outlets hear countless pitches for new AI products each day, and if yours isn’t actually an AI product at all, your reputation takes the hit.
So, define what your technology does with clarity, accuracy, and transparency to maintain credibility and avoid contributing to AI fatigue. If it’s really just automation disguised as a fancy new AI feature, rethink the way you frame it, or whether you need to spend more time in product development.
Make sure your news is actually newsworthy
The hospitality tech market is constantly evolving, with new AI products launching every day. And what’s novel and unique today may be old news by tomorrow.
That’s why we urge clients to consider early on whether their AI feature is actually novel. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you have a product that the market really needs? Or is it just creating more AI noise?
- If there is a market need, what story can you tell around your product? How unique is the product, and why is it the best? Think pain points and problems solved.
You want to ensure that what you’re putting out there is genuinely newsworthy, worth talking about, and hasn’t been covered before. So you need to do your research on the landscape and understand the tools that have already been released.
Monitor what’s happening at conferences and trade shows, read industry publications, and keep a pulse on other tools coming out in your space. Ensure you highlight any “industry-firsts” if your product has them. If this sounds like a daunting task for you and your team, a PR agency specialized in your sector can step in and take over.
Here at Abode, for example, we’re deeply embedded in the hospitality tech industry, keeping constant tabs on AI innovation in the space. So when you come to us with an innovative angle for your product, we can tell you if it’s been done before. And if that’s the case, we can help you find a unique, compelling story to tell that will ensure a successful launch.
Tie your launch to a wider industry trend
Rather than simply announcing your launch, frame the product within a broader trend to show why it matters right now.
Let’s say, for example, you’re launching an AI-powered digital guestbook. Tie this product to a challenge the industry is facing right now, whether that’s rising guest expectations for convenience or staffing pressures that reduce hospitality teams’ bandwidth to respond to ad-hoc questions.
Your rationale is even stronger if you can bring in recent, credible stats, like a customer case study, a survey of guests across the hotel industry, or a report on hospitality staffing shortages.
While it may seem like a small detail, adding a “why now” element to your launch elevates your narrative and shows journalists why they should care enough about your story to cover it now.
Use data storytelling
Translate your AI solution into a real outcome that hospitality operators will understand, whether that’s time savings, revenue uplift, or efficiency gains. When you speak your ICP’s (Ideal Customer Profile) language and demonstrate how your product will actually help them achieve one of their goals, they’re more likely to listen.
The challenge here is that early product launches often lack data usage, which is why we recommend a two-stage PR strategy. This can look like:
- An initial announcement of the product, its value proposition, and how it’s projected to help users
- A data-driven follow-up story, a few months later, that focuses on tangible results and benefits
By following up your claims with a data story, you validate your promises and create stronger media hooks. Consider the difference between these two headlines:
- “[Company] launches AI-powered digital guidebook”
- “[Company]’s AI-powered digital guidebook reduces guest calls by up to 90%”
It’s pretty clear which version builds more credibility and sticks with customers.
Tell your customers’ success stories
Many hospitality professionals are excited about the prospect of how AI can save them time. But some hoteliers and property managers are still wary of this unfamiliar technology and trusting their business to it.
It’s your job to reassure them that AI isn’t here to take their job, but rather to make it easier. Customer success stories serve as both powerful media hooks and compelling customer education, as they highlight the benefits of AI tools and reassure operators who may feel intimidated by the technology.
To achieve this, stay away from technical explanations and jargon and clearly communicate how the tool can better the user’s business and life.
At Abode, for example, we leveraged a customer success story to land one of our clients a placement in a multinational financial and business news outlet. The narrative centered on how our client’s tool helped one property manager bring in over a million dollars in annual revenue while working less than ten hours per week on his vacation rental business.
When you translate your launch into clear benefits instead of leaning on technical product jargon, you capture the attention of both media outlets and potential customers.
Build a campaign, not just a press release
Our philosophy at Abode is that your product launch should never be a one-off press release, and it shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. You always need a campaign.
A sustained and coordinated cross-channel storytelling effort helps brands stand out in a market that’s oversaturated with AI product and feature releases. There are a number of ways to approach this, from thought leadership content and blog articles to podcasts and community engagement.
For example, start by pitching an op-ed to a Tier 1 publication to generate interest around the topic and improve your chances of getting the product announcement press release published as well.
Just note that this strategy will only work if your news is actually newsworthy, as we mentioned above. And you should have a novel take on the topic if you want to have a chance of the publication accepting your op-ed proposal.
Another smart way to kickstart your campaign is by creating organic conversations around the topic in the industry before launching your product. For one of our clients, for example, our team posed a question on a well-known forum that hospitality CEOs frequent, sparking a debate around the type of product our client was launching.
This helped keep the topic top-of-mind for our client’s target audience while validating that there was an actual market need for the solution they were announcing. Having a PR partner who lives and breathes your industry is essential in this situation; only they would know where your audience spends their time and where these conversations happen.
For another client, we used the following approach:
- Phase 1: Bylined thought leadership article in a trade magazine. The CEO shared expert insights on the promising role of AI related to the product’s particular use case.
- Phase 2: Product announcement press release. Secured placement in a leading industry publication to unveil the launch and outline its relevance and timeliness.
- Phase 3: Podcast appearance. The CEO was interviewed on an industry podcast to share thoughts on the transformative impact of AI in short-term rental management.
- Phase 4: Data storytelling piece. Landed an article in an international travel and tourism publication to share concrete data on results from the product launch.
When you plan a multi-tier campaign strategy well in advance, it’s easier to create consistent buzz around your solution. For example, you can have your company’s spokespeople talk about the new product and industry events and conferences, bringing everything full circle.
One last tip: your campaign is never really over. Even after a successful launch, you need to protect your reputation as a leader in groundbreaking AI tech, as competitors will try to position themselves in the same way. Consistently reinforcing your messaging and maintaining your position as a thought leader is an ongoing effort.
Track and analyze launch success
The smartest hospitality tech companies look beyond the first few months of noise and monitor the impact of an AI launch over time. There are a few things to focus on here:
- Track how many times brand mentions show up alongside AI keywords, such as “agentic AI”
- Measure key message pull-through (how your campaign’s messaging appears in earned coverage) and sentiment
- Monitor share of voice (your visibility and presence in the market compared to competitors) in the AI space.
In our latest quarterly review with one of our clients, we saw that this client dominated industry conversation around the topic of the innovative AI solutions they had recently released, with an 83% share of voice in the “agentic AI” category. We noticed a stronger message pull-through compared to the previous quarter, indicating that the market was beginning to understand our client’s product better.
Consistent measurement helps you refine messaging and maintain momentum beyond launch day.
So if you notice sentiment around your new AI feature is leaning negative, you can take the right steps for course correction. That may look like doubling down on strategic community management or partnering with trusted industry influencers to endorse your product.
The AI launch blueprint for 2026
Credibility, not technical complexity, is the real differentiator when it comes to a successful AI hospitality tech launch.
Brands that are able to communicate clearly, demonstrate real value, and support launches with consistent and compelling storytelling are the ones that break through AI fatigue and reach their ideal customers.
At Abode, we understand how to guide brands through this process, helping you shift from making noise to leaving a lasting impression. We’ve helped numerous companies successfully launch AI products in the hospitality tech industry and evolve into market leaders.
And the results speak for themselves. We helped one of our clients secure over 90 pieces of media coverage in just 12 months. This contributed to them gaining over 50% share of voice in AI, despite starting off with zero presence.
Your success is our success. And behind every strong hotel and STR tech brand’s successful PR campaign is Abode Worldwide.
Trust your product launch to a team that knows exactly what it takes to go from making noise to making an impact. Contact us today.
