How has the hospitality industry changed in the last year?
Luxury hospitality has shifted toward selling experiences rather than just rooms.
In previous years, the focus was on occupancy and distribution, with booking engines often seen as a tool rather than a central part of the guest journey.
Today, booking engines have become more important, allowing guests to curate and personalize their stay at the point of booking. This can include spa reservations, dining, transport and other elements that form part of the overall experience.
This reflects a broader change in guest expectations, where travelers want more control and personalization when booking their stay.
What hospitality tech shift should operators watch?
Operators should be focused on connected commerce.
This involves aligning the booking engine with payment strategy so that the entire booking process is seamless from start to finish. The goal is not to add complexity, but to improve what is already in place so that guests can complete their booking and payments in one connected experience.
Embedded payments play a key role in this process, allowing guests to pay in the way they choose and manage their booking and experience in one place.
How can hotels better drive revenue beyond rooms?
Ancillary revenue is becoming increasingly important, particularly for luxury hotels that have historically underutilized these opportunities.
By integrating ancillary services into the booking process, hotels can offer additional options at the point of booking and increase overall revenue.
Optimizing payment technology is also important. Working with a unified payment partner from booking through to check-in allows for a more streamlined experience, while also supporting fraud detection and improving operational efficiency.
Technology can also support a more personalized guest journey, using a single token or profile to connect the guest experience across different touchpoints.
What are you most excited about for Journey in the coming years?
Journey is focused on enabling hotels to monetize more elements of the guest journey.
This includes connecting booking, payments and ecommerce functionality to create a seamless experience from the initial booking through to the stay itself.
The platform is designed to help hotels capture ancillary revenue at the point of booking and integrate this with property management systems, allowing hotels to curate the full guest journey.
This reflects broader expectations shaped by ecommerce platforms, where customers expect a seamless and personalized purchasing experience across all interactions.
🎧 Listen to more interviews from the ITB 2026 series, where we speak with hospitality and travel tech leaders about the future of the industry.
If you want to understand how your brand stays visible and relevant as AI continues to shape hospitality technology, get in touch with Abode Worldwide.
