🤖 Google's Agentic eCommerce + Hotels?

Overwhelmed by low guest engagement and endless staff communication tasks? UPRISER helps hotels replace generic messages with authentic, humanized communication that guests actually respond to.

Powered by emotionally intelligent AI, UPRISER transforms guest journeys with authentic voice and video—boosting satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue.

👉 Discover how voice and video can elevate your guest experience now

In it’s 8th year, Hotel Tech Report surveyed over 3,000 professionals the largest dataset of its kind to uncover the 10 best places to work in hotel tech. The companies that rose to the top didn’t just chase growth they built cultures of trust, clarity, and resilience during high-stakes moments like funding rounds, acquisitions, and enterprise expansion.

🎯 Why it matters: As hotel tech shifts from support role to core infrastructure, the internal health of vendors directly impacts service quality and innovation. Teams that are stable, motivated, and aligned are more likely to deliver real value over time. Oh yeah, and if you’re looking to level up your career there are lots of open roles at these companies as they look to scale at the pace of AI.

🔑 Key takeaway: For hotel operators, this list offers a new filter for choosing tech partners: not just who builds the flashiest product, but who’s built to last. Want to know which company scaled calmly through a $75M investment—or launched AI without imploding? The answers are inside. Read More →

PwC’s AI at the Heart of Tourism and Hospitality report shows that AI is rapidly shifting from pilot projects to business necessity across the sector, with 91% of hospitality leaders already using or experimenting with AI tools—yet only about 3% have achieved full‑scale deployment due to legacy systems, talent gaps and integration challenges. The study highlights that forward‑looking organizations are prioritizing generative AI, predictive analytics, and smart sensors/IoT to move beyond simple automation and power hyper‑personalized guest experiences, dynamic pricing, and real‑time operational optimization.

🎯 Why it matters: As travellers increasingly expect seamless, tailored experiences, and as distribution and discovery shift into AI‑driven channels, hotels that don’t embed intelligence across their tech stack risk falling behind. The PwC findings make clear that AI isn’t just a backend efficiency tool. It’s a strategic differentiator that influences guest satisfaction, operational agility, workforce empowerment, and competitive positioning.

🔑 Key takeaway: Hotel leaders should move beyond isolated AI pilots and focus on enterprise‑wide integration of AI capabilities. That means modernizing legacy systems so data flows freely across PMS, RMS, CRM, and guest engagement platforms; investing in predictive analytics that anticipate demand and personalize service; and developing governance and talent strategies that support responsible, scalable AI adoption. Read More →

Google has introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP): an open, industry‑backed standard designed to let AI agents manage discovery through checkout in one seamless conversational flow, collapsing the traditional website‑to‑booking journey. Supported by partners like Shopify, Stripe, and major retailers, this approach could extend to travel, allowing agents to compare and book hotels without visitors landing on your website.

🎯 Why it matters: For hotels, the implications are profound. The traditional path (from search to OTA/brand site to booking) may soon be supplanted by AI agents that discover, compare, and book stays on behalf of travelers without them ever visiting your website or OTA listings. This evolution could reduce the influence of legacy distribution channels and shift competitive advantage toward properties that are structured, machine‑readable, and integrated with agentic commerce layers. Visibility in AI interfaces may become as important as search ranking is today.

🔑 Key takeaway: Hotel executives should prepare for an agentic commerce era by ensuring inventory, pricing, offer logic and loyalty data are optimized for AI agent consumption. Invest in technology that supports machine‑readable APIs and real‑time integration, and plan partnerships with platforms that adopt UCP and related protocols. As booking flows become conversational and real‑time, hotels that enable seamless agentic transactions will be better positioned to capture demand and stay competitive in 2026 and beyond. Read More →

✅ Upriser.ai: Use realistic voice & video AI add a human touch to every guest journey.

✅ Cloudbeds: All-in-one hotel management software at the speed of AI.

✅ Tripleseat: Manage hotel group bookings, catering and event sales with AI.

✅ Clickmaint: Prioritize maintenance tasks with user-friendly software for hotel operations.

✅ ROH: Automate sales and finance to save time and capture more revenue.

✅ Canary Technologies: Powerful but simple AI powered digital guest journey platform.

✅ VoucherCart: Turn gift vouchers into prepaid revenue across rooms, dining, and spa.

✅ Plusgrade: Unlock new revenue by automating targeted guest upgrade offers.

✅ MeetingPackage: Simplify MICE bookings and boost event revenue.

✅ Sertifi: Simplify hotel check-ins and payments with secure digital solutions.

1️⃣ See How Linchris Hotels Transformed Hospitality Operations with Canary

Learn how ChatGPT and similar tools are fundamentally changing the way guests plan their trips and discover hotels and how you can secure visibility and bookings today.

2️⃣ Bluesun Hotels Doubles Revenue with HubSpot

Since implementing HubSpot Marketing, Sales and Service Hub, Bluesun doubled direct revenue, enhanced customer support and satisfaction while improving operational productivity and efficiencies.

3️⃣ Hotel payment systems explained: Security, convenience, and cost-saving strategies

Read the ebook to see how hotels are leveraging advanced communications tools & AI to enable next-generation guest and employee experiences.

🧠 Apple taps Google’s Gemini to power Apple’s AI features like Siri for a multi-year deal to boost Siri and future AI tools.

🏨 Hoteliers expect quiet luxury, group business focus & design shifts to reshape hospitality strategy in 2026.

🍵 Aparthotel company Kasa buys luxury competitor Mint House

👩‍💼 A Marriott hotel employee was fired after leaking ICE agents’ names, emails and images online.

📊 PwC’s 2026 hospitality report forecasts moderate RevPAR growth with occupancy near 62% amid cost pressures.

🌍 US politics is reshaping international travel as Trump-era policies and geopolitical tensions cut visitor spending and dampen bookings.

💼 MCR Hotels’ planned Soho House merger hits a snag as a $200M funding commitment falls through.

📱 Gen Z prioritizes tech-savvy, personalized travel experiences with budget awareness and authenticity.

🌱 AI-driven sustainability is helping hotels cut energy use, food waste up to 69%, and emissions 24%.

📈 Global travel bookings hit $1.67T as AI-driven planning and online channels power steady momentum into 2026.

💳 34% of U.S. travelers rank credit card points more valuable than hotel and airline loyalty programs.

🔍 Kayak CEO Steve Hafner explored taking the company private but got shut down

🚀 Alphabet hits a $4 trillion valuation as its AI refocus and Gemini‑linked Apple partnership boost shares and investor confidence.

💵 Minimum wage increases to hit 19 states in 2026, with many crossing the $15/hr threshold.

How do you scale hotel operations across brands, countries, and systems - without losing control or culture?

 In this episode of Hotel Tech Insider, we sit down with Øyvind Bøhm Frisak, Chief Commercial Officer at CIC Hospitality, to unpack how a fast-growing Nordic hotel operator is using AI, data, and unconventional guest-facing tech to drive efficiency, improve service, and prepare teams for the future.

This conversation is especially relevant for hotel owners, operators, GMs, and commercial leaders managing multi-property portfolios, complex tech stacks, or brand-franchise environments—and anyone navigating the real-world impact of AI on hotel operations and staffing.

Key takeaways from this episode:

Along the way, Øyvind shares candid insights on AI adoption, tech stack integration, revenue management evolution, guest communication automation, and preparing hotel teams for change—without fear-mongering or hype.

👉🏼 Check out the interview on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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