Four travel and hospitality trends from HITEC 2026

What happened

Many hospitality businesses still lack the modern financial infrastructure needed to fully benefit from the automation, speed, and interoperability AI is expected to drive. The big topic: whether the industry’s AI investment is actually working.

But the gap between where the industry is headed and what it’s currently equipped to support is wide. “A lot of companies are throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it sticks,” said Dale Gomez, associate teaching professor in hospitality technology at Florida International University. Payment systems once considered “good enough” are now costing measurable revenue, and rising guest expectations have turned inefficient technology from a minor inconvenience to a reason not to return.