In 2025, the hotel technology industry continued to see profound change, marked by a big uplift in the use of artificial intelligence and the growing importance of centralized data to improve the guest experience. Ireckonu, a provider of middleware solutions and customer data platforms (CDPs) for hotels, analyzes the trends that are redefining loyalty and revenue management in the sector. From real-time personalization and guest recognition to the emergence of AI agents capable of booking trips autonomously, the hotel landscape demands more agile, data-driven, and customer-centric strategies.
Here’s a summary of the key trends that Ireckonu’s spokespersons and senior leadership have highlighted as critical in 2025:
Jan Jaap van Roon CEO & Founder:
Loyalty in hospitality is fragile. Guests compare, explore alternatives, and switch brands, often without warning. That “silent loss” makes forecasting revenue, maintaining occupancy, and protecting profitability a constant challenge. But what if hotels could anticipate guest needs before they even arise?
Artificial intelligence is transforming the way hotels understand and engage their guests. From fragmented bookings and app interactions to in-hotel services and post-stay feedback, AI can turn disconnected data into a living, accurate guest profile, enabling real-time, personalized interventions. Imagine a “Netflix of hospitality,” where each guest experiences a journey tailored exactly to their preferences.
Private, adaptive AI models make this possible: delivering personalized recommendations, dynamic pricing, and hyper-targeted marketing while keeping guest data secure and compliant. More importantly, these tools can be applied strategically to increase loyalty, optimize marketing spend, and drive measurable ROI, without overwhelming teams or systems.
Far from being aspirational, AI today enables hotels to engage guests meaningfully, anticipate their needs, and strengthen loyalty. All while opening new opportunities for revenue growth. The future is about moving from reactive, generic approaches to timely, personalized, data-driven experiences that truly resonate and make guests feel seen, valued, and connected.
Rik van Leeuwen, Head of Data Solutions and Customer Success at Ireckonu:
The hospitality industry is entering what experts call the agentic era. A time where AI-powered travel agents will be able to book complete journeys with little or no human involvement. While this promises greater convenience and potential savings for travelers, it creates new challenges for hotels, particularly around pricing and inventory management. In this new landscape, revenue strategies that depend on last-minute rate drops will face growing pressure as AI agents learn to exploit these price fluctuations. Travelers may cancel and rebook closer to arrival at lower rates, putting hotel profitability at risk.
Data already shows the financial impact: a guest books 60 days in advance, then rebooks the same room five days out at a lower rate. The resulting losses can amount to millions of euros annually, depending on the hotel chain’s approach to revenue management. While rebooking is not a new phenomenon, AI agents working silently in the background means it will only become faster, easier, and far more widespread.
The impact of the agentic future extends beyond revenue management. Sales, marketing, and guest communications will also need to adapt. As AI agents book on behalf of travelers who have already given guidance on where and when they want to stay, hotel systems must deliver seamless navigation and crystal-clear confirmations.
For travelers, the shift could be overwhelmingly positive. The same room at a lower price makes for a better deal and reduces the incentive to book far in advance. For hotels, it means rethinking discounting practices and adopting smarter strategies to protect yield and avoid last-minute margin losses.
Sam Samsudi, APAC – Director of Business Development
Asia-Pacific’s increasingly mobile travelers, especially younger generations and high-value guests, expect hotel brands to communicate with them in ways that feel relevant and personal. When messaging is inconsistent or disconnected from their preferences and past stays, guests feel overlooked and hotels miss the opportunity to build meaningful connections. Personalization has shifted from being a differentiator to becoming a core driver of profitability.
Delivering this level of personalization, however, requires a solid data foundation – something many APAC hotel groups still lack. A recent study by h2c GmbH, sponsored by Ireckonu, reveals that only 22% of hotel chains have a centralized data structure, and just 21% operate with a unified content or data platform. Without a strong data infrastructure, maintaining consistency across departments becomes difficult, and the full potential of AI-powered automation remains out of reach.
This gap has real business implications. A satisfied guest does not automatically become a loyal one, and hotels are losing recurring revenue by failing to turn positive stays into long-term relationships. The real opportunity lies in creating emotional connections through deep, data-driven personalization; the kind that recognizes guests’ needs in real time and responds before they even ask.
Knowing who is at risk of disengaging is no longer enough. The real difference lies in anticipating the right moment and delivering the right response. That is where AI can transform loyalty strategies. But without robust, integrated data, this level of precision simply cannot exist, and that remains one of the sector’s biggest challenges in today’s fast-changing landscape.
By connecting data, compliance, and guest experience, APAC hoteliers are uniquely positioned to lead the next wave of growth in the hospitality sector.
Hanna Schiller, VP of Sales
True loyalty begins when guests feel seen and valued. In today’s competitive hospitality landscape, recognizing guests in real time is no longer just desirable; it is essential to stand out, foster lasting relationships, and ultimately increase recurrent bookings. By connecting data across all touchpoints (from online bookings and mobile app interactions to in-hotel services and post-stay feedback), hotels can build a comprehensive view of each guest’s journey and deliver experiences tailored to their previous preferences.
However, many hotels still face challenges with fragmented data systems, where information from bookings, mobile apps, on-property services, and post-stay feedback remains siloed and difficult to integrate. Limited access or incomplete view of the guest insights leads to inconsistent experiences, missed opportunities for personalization, and, consequently, lower levels of loyalty.
This is compounded by persistent operational challenges in the hotel industry, such as staff training, technology adoption, and ensuring data privacy, which make the situation even more complex. Without a unified approach, even hotels with the best intentions risk falling short in recognizing their guests and, as a result, failing to create meaningful and personalized connections that drive revenue.
The solution, therefore, requires a structural shift that goes beyond simply adopting new technological tools and truly transforms the foundations of the industry in terms of culture, operations, and smarter use of AI. Only then can hoteliers maximize their value proposition and deliver more lasting experiences through personalization and real-time preference recognition.
Real-time recognition enables hotels to anticipate guest needs, offer highly personalized services, and create moments that truly feel tailor-made. For example, a returning guest could be greeted by name at check-in, have room preferences such as temperature applied automatically, or receive suggestions and experiences aligned with their behavior on previous stays. This level of personalization goes beyond transactional interactions and fosters emotional connections and trust.