Home Meeting Planner Resources 5 Top Hospitality Tech Trends to Watch

5 Top Hospitality Tech Trends to Watch

March 22, 2025

Hospitality tech trends, from AI to IoT to robots and sustainability, are ramping up to make for a more seamless attendee experience.

Meeting professionals are inundated with new technology that is upending the way meetings are planned — mostly in a good way. The hospitality industry is likewise undergoing a tech revolution in everything from AI-powered guest services to smart devices and data-driven personalization.

Here are 5 top hospitality tech trends that planners are seeing now — or will be soon — at their host venues, according to Hospitality Net.

Mobile apps for contact-free services. With the hospitality industry still undergoing a staffing shortage, mobile tech is stepping up to fill in the gaps in ways many attendees may find make the experience more streamlined than ever. For example, many hotels now offer mobile apps attendees can use to access services and amenities without having to dial the front desk or concierge, as well as self-check-in kiosks that allow guests to check in without waiting in line.
AI for enhanced customization. A chatbot concierge is a nice touch, especially since they can answer questions even after hours, and offload the front desk staff from routine requests so they can spend more time servicing guests who need that specialized human touch. Now, many hotels also are taking AI a light year further to provide hyper-personalized guest experiences based on each person’s individualized preferences. For example, a hotel may use AI algorithms to power recommendation engines that can analyze a guest’s past preferences and behaviors to come up with ideas for services and experiences that are just what they are looking for, from dining recommendations to specialized room amenities.
Internet of Things (IoT) for customizable guest rooms. When hotels pair AI with IoT, guest rooms get a lot more seamlessly customizable. For example, the hotel can predict and preset the room to have the room temperature, lighting, entertainment system, and even the mattress and pillow set to a guest’s personal preferences.
Robots for keeping it clean. Staffing shortages may have kicked off this hospitality tech trend, but attendees will reap the benefits as service robots begin to take on tasks including everything from keeping rooms tidy to delivering food and amenities.
Smart tech for increased sustainability. Guests may no longer need to remember to turn down their thermostats or turn off the lights when they leave their rooms to head to the meeting if it’s being held at a hotel that uses smart thermostats and lighting.

While all these hospitality tech trends have the potential to enhance the guest experience, they also raise some concerns. For example, some worry that AI, smart devices and the rest may end up displacing jobs for humans in the labor-intensive hospitality industry. And, while AI is great at analyzing data to come up with solutions, it’s not yet quite ready to replace human staff when it comes to understanding what really makes people tick, so its ideas for personalization still need to be verified by a person to make sure it’s on point. And some smaller venues just may find the whole proposition to be a bit too expensive to adopt, at least for now.