Hospitality execs dig deep on AI and the World Cup

When hotel executives get together lately, AI talk is inevitable.

Satya Anand, group president for the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean & Latin America at Marriott International, was asked at this month’s NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum event in New York about how his company is using AI. While he noted that the world’s largest hotel company is deploying the technology on both the customer and employee side, his answer took an interesting turn when focusing on revenue generation.

“People tend to portray AI as a fear and as a challenge,” Anand said. “It is a challenge because people have to adapt, but, fundamentally, we believe this is a huge opportunity.”

To illustrate, Anand pointed to the massive volume of group needs that filter into Marriott properties. In premium segments like luxury and upper upscale, inquiries are abundant, and associates spend a significant amount of time just formulating responses. Because smaller group leads often hinge entirely on speed, Marriott is relying on new tech to capture business that might otherwise be lost.

“The faster we respond, the greater the chance of getting the business,” Anand said. “We are using agentic AI to be able to filter those needs and respond at a much faster pace.”

Anand was part of “The Executive Exchange: Hospitality Performance Strategies for Success” panel, which included Larry Cuculic, president and CEO of Phoenix-based BWH Hotels; Craig Smith, CEO of Plano, Texas-based Aimbridge Hospitality; and Rob Smith, CEO and president of Denver-based Stonebridge. The session was moderated by Todd Soloway, co-chair of litigation and head of hotel and hospitality group and real estate litigation at New York City-based Pryor Cashman.

Questex

How BWH is using AI

Cuculic talked about the efficiencies and insights that AI can provide, but he also took the discussion in a surprising direction, shedding light on how BWH is approaching the future of guest discovery. Instead of just focusing on internal operations, the company is actively preparing for how consumers will utilize AI for travel planning over the next decade.

“We're leaning into content creation,” Cuculic said. “We're not just looking at how AI affects us, but also how guests are going to use it in two or five or 10 years?” 

Because travelers are increasingly relying on AI to hunt for experiential trips, Cuculic stressed the importance of having robust website content that connects a property to the surrounding destination's activities. To ensure BWH properties surface as the answer to these complex AI queries, the company is currently using AI and a third party to harvest and curate that hyper-local data.

Cuculic used the example of a traveler heading to Chicago who wants a hotel near the Miracle Mile, easy access to deep-dish pizza, and proximity to an art museum. By feeding that specific, interconnected data to their websites, hotels can position themselves perfectly for the next generation of search.

“That’s content that we're putting on our website, so that we're the answer to the question,” he said. “If you have content on your website that says we're located half a block from Gino's East [for pizza], you can walk to [the Magnificent] Mile and go to Water Tower [Arts District], and you can do all these things. That hotel will be the answer to the question, because that's how people will search in the future.”

Questex

Exciting Times for Hospitality

Aimbridge’s Craig Smith pivoted the discussion to his optimism about the future. After spending the last four years at conferences focusing on inflation and post-pandemic negativity, he sees the tide turning. 

For one, the staffing crisis has eased, and hospitality has regained its appeal as a career path. Additionally, consumer spending habits have shifted dramatically toward prioritizing experiences over goods.

“Now they want to travel,” Smith said. “Travel is a badge of honor, whether it's economy or luxury. Everybody wants to travel and there's more income out there. We've never had a period when leisure travel is growing as fast as it is now. And we can get out in front of it.”

The third major reason for his optimism is the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. Looking back 25 years to an era of paper reservations and phone calls, Smith views AI not as a passing fad, but as a monumental shift that will overhaul everything from how guests book to the middle of the P&L statement.

“AI is not a shiny painting, it's the next and much bigger thing that's happening and it's going to transform the industry,” he said. “Sometimes we sit up on stage and think of all the dour things that are happening, but past those clouds, there's this sunny thing out there, and it's a matter of us as an industry and as individual companies taking advantage of it.”

Opportunities of the World Cup

Rob Smith of Stonebridge echoed that sentiment, noting that despite some noise in 2026, the industry is in a remarkably strong position compared to past downturns. Following a phenomenal first quarter where Stonebridge saw top-line growth of about 6.5%, the company is now gearing up for the massive demand expected from the World Cup in June and July.

While international inbound travel won't be a major factor in the initial wave of bookings for these events, Stonebridge is pivoting its strategy to maximize the boom in domestic leisure.

“Right now, domestic leisure is booming and we think there's an opportunity for domestic leisure to fill the gaps on international inbound for the Cup,” he said. “For international, that cake is baked. If they're not on the books today, they won't be able to get the necessary paperwork to come through.”

With a strong focus on top-line growth and careful expense management, Stonebridge is maintaining a cautiously optimistic outlook for the rest of the year as World Cup demand materializes.