GenAI in Hospitality Study 2026 - LNU - Group 14

This study looks at how Generative AI is changing how customers experience the hospitality sector and, more specifically, what that means for the human side of service. To explore this, we conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with customers who had recently used GenAI tools when planning or booking hospitality services. From those conversations, three clear themes came through. First, people are increasingly turning to AI as a way to cut through the overwhelming amount of choices when planning a trip or finding somewhere to dine. Second, even though AI makes that process faster and easier, most people still do not fully trust it the way they trust a personal recommendation, especially when the occasion actually matters to them. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the human interaction at the service itself has not become less important. If anything, people seem to notice it more now. One concern that also came up across the interviews is whether AI recommendation systems are quietly favoring bigger, well-known hospitality brands over smaller, local ones, simply because they have more data and reviews behind them.