As AI transforms industries worldwide, hospitality is taking a different route. Instead of replacing staff with machines, the sector is investing more deeply in human talent recognising that genuine connection, emotional intelligence, and personal service remain central to guest experience.
While AI is projected to displace 300m jobs worldwide, the hospitality industry is making a contrarian bet: doubling down on people.
This isn’t sentimentality, it’s survival. With 73% of guests preferring human interaction, the sector thrives on something technology can’t replicate: genuine connection.
AI alone isn’t enough
Japan’s Henn-na Hotel, literally “Strange Hotel”, learned this the hard way. After replacing staff with 243 robots, it later dismissed more than half of them due to repeated malfunctions. Research from Quicktext, a hospitality-focused AI company, shows a similar pattern: projects relying solely on AI have a 100% failure rate, with accuracy plateauing at 60%.
The lesson isn’t that AI has no place in hospitality, it’s that AI without humans fails spectacularly.
What should concern us more than automation is the global talent shortage. By 2035, demand for travel and tourism workers will outpace supply by 43m people. Hospitality alone faces an 8.6m worker gap, about 18% below required staffing levels.
Roles requiring emotional intelligence and personal service will need more than 20m additional people worldwide.
Our industry already employs over 330 million individuals globally. The challenge isn’t attracting guests, it’s finding and retaining talent. AI isn’t the threat; the shortage of skilled people is.
Smart AI integration can help by automating repetitive tasks such as managing bookings, inventory, and routine guest queries, freeing our people to focus on what they do best: creating memorable experiences.
Astrino Nicoloudakis 19 Jun 2023 Human connection as hospitality’s competitive advantage
A chatbot can confirm a reservation, but it can’t read the exhaustion in a guest’s voice and offer an upgrade. AI can optimise housekeeping schedules, but it can’t recognise a family celebrating quietly and arrange a surprise dessert.
Seventy percent of guests find chatbots useful, yet two-thirds say interactions feel “mechanical and devoid of warmth”.
It’s the warmth in a staff member’s voice, the genuine smile, the intuition to engage or give space – those human moments turn an ordinary stay into an unforgettable experience.
Building the workforce of the future
Across the world, the industry is responding with initiatives to attract and develop new talent: partnerships with educational institutions, apprenticeship support, skills councils, and career development programmes that make hospitality a profession of purpose and growth.
AI will undoubtedly reshape jobs, but it won’t replace the human essence of hospitality. The most successful hotels will use technology to manage the routine so people can deliver the remarkable.
While other industries brace for AI-driven job losses, hospitality is preparing for AI-enabled career growth. Our greatest asset has always been human, because every moment that matters, happens between people.
