Artificial intelligence’s impact on hospitality and tourism marketing: exploring key themes and addressing challenges

Understanding how Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacts organizational functions supports stakeholders to prepare accordingly and profit from these developments. Adopting a grounded theory approach, this study uses three interlinked stages (in-depth interviews, focus groups and a questionnaire-based survey) to explore the impact of AI on the marketing function of hotels. The results identify ten trends related to AI’s contribution to hotel marketing, clustered in four themes. AI reengineers internal processes and procedures by enabling data and content as catalysts of competitiveness; empowering the augmented worker and performing mass personalization and customization. AI also impacts relationships with stakeholders by determining return on investment; improving sustainability; and governing legal aspects and ethics regarding data use. AI supports networks to which the organizations belong by concentrating and integrating organizations and transforming distribution models. AI transforms customer processes and services by engaging smart and predictive customer care and by employing predictive and augmented product and service design. The study illustrates the changes that AI will likely bring to hospitality and tourism marketing, developing a research agenda and raising discussion points for academic and industry practitioners respectively.