The message was simple and practical. Hotels are moving from complex, expensive integrations toward an open, agent-powered model that gives them more control, not less. Here are the takeaways that matter most for hotel owners and operators. AI Agents Are Teammates, Not Replacements AI agents are being designed around real hotel roles, not generic chatbots. Think reservations, revenue, operations, and guest experience. These agents support understaffed teams, handle repeat questions, and provide consistent expertise without adding headcount. Jan Popovic of inHotel also highlighted how industry experts can create digital versions of their expertise, allowing knowledge to scale without burning people out. Distribution Improves When Hotels Are Discoverable Directly Guests visit dozens of pages before booking, and hotels give up a large share of revenue to intermediaries. By using A2A and GERS, hotels become directly discoverable across AI search, maps, DMOs, and partner sites. Guests can connect instantly with the right hotel agent, instead of being routed through marketplaces. The outcome is simple: lower acquisition costs and more direct relationships. Destinations Work Better When Everyone Is Connected When hotels and local businesses share common location identifiers, AI systems understand what is nearby and how places relate to each other. This allows hotels, restaurants, tour operators, and experience providers to show up together in discovery, instead of competing in isolation. Better local discovery benefits everyone. Integrations Are Getting Faster One of the biggest shifts Jan highlighted is speed. AI agents can now read API documentation and operating procedures, cutting integration timelines from months to hours. This makes modern systems far more accessible to hotel teams without massive technical lift. Where Hotels Should Start Jan’s advice was clear. Start with the commercial side. Agentic reservations and revenue teams reduce distribution costs and improve guest engagement across websites, maps, AI search, and partner channels. This is where hotels see impact first. Why Open Standards Matter None of this works without shared rules. The OpenTravel Alliance plays a critical role by defining common data models and standards so agents can work together across systems. This is what keeps hotels in control instead of locked into proprietary platforms. Why This Matters Now The shift is already happening. Hotels that treat their websites and data as infrastructure will become the default answer in AI-driven discovery. Hotels that do not will increasingly be routed through intermediaries. The takeaway from Paris was not futuristic. It was practical. This is about owning your data, reducing dependency, and letting AI work for your hotel, not around it.
