52% of Hotel Guests Expect AI at Check-In

It is telling that even at the start of the year, when airlines were still recovering from a holiday travel crush and hotels were bracing for an uncertain economic backdrop, both industries were already talking about generative artificial intelligence (AI).

The technology was new, the use cases untested, but travel companies and consumers alike were imagining how the advanced technologies might reshape the experience of moving through airports, booking rooms and planning trips.

Airlines to Hotels to Beyond

The report, “At Your Service: Generative AI Arrives in Travel and Hospitality” from PYMNTS Intelligence, charts how early experiments in generative AI were being piloted across airlines and hotels. Its findings suggest that, even in its infancy, AI was beginning to reframe the way executives, staff and travelers thought about service.

Airlines saw it as a way to manage passenger communications more effectively; hotels saw an opportunity to personalize marketing and support. At the same time, consumers were curious about offloading trip planning to algorithms, though wary of how far the machines could be trusted.

52% of hospitality customers expect generative AI will play a role in customer interactions, such as support and engagement, underscoring how quickly expectations for digital service have shifted.

56% of travelers said they would use generative AI for restaurant recommendations, signaling that consumers already envisioned AI as a digital concierge for dining, hotels and activities.

One-fifth of aviation maintenance technician jobs may go unfilled by 2033, a shortage airlines are eyeing generative AI to help address, not by replacing mechanics but by reducing time spent troubleshooting and reporting.

The early experiments reveal both the promise and the limits of generative AI. United Airlines introduced an AI-powered text update system that sends near real-time weather delay information to passengers. That tool, designed to reduce frustration, also frees up staff to focus on strategic operations. In hospitality, Serko, a travel solutions provider, partnered with UneeQ to launch “Zena,” a digital human travel agent powered by ChatGPT that can recommend hotels and flights with conversational fluency.

Yet the same qualities that make AI valuable — speed, scale and realism — have been exploited by bad actors. Booking.com last year reported a 900% surge in travel scams over 18 months, many of them driven by AI-crafted phishing emails and fake listings. This duality has forced companies to weigh the gains in efficiency and personalization against the risk of alienating customers or exposing them to fraud.

Striking the Balance

Other findings in the PYMNTS Intelligence report highlight the delicate balance. Seven in 10 Americans said they would use AI to plan travel itineraries, preferring the convenience over traditional methods. At the same time, travel agents warn that generative systems can miss less-trafficked destinations or return incomplete data.

For travel and hospitality, the report makes clear that generative AI is no longer a futuristic notion. The question now is not whether AI belongs in the industry, but how far companies can go in letting it stand in for people without eroding the very experiences travelers prize most.