Today, we’re learning from Janette Roush, the SVP of Innovation and Chief AI Officer at Brand USA.

The Big Idea: AI can help you do more creative, meaningful work - but it will take a bit of effort to get there.

Why It Matters:

Listen to our full discussion today on the Hospitality Daily Podcast (available on Spotify or Apple Podcasts), or scroll down to keep reading more insights and takeaways.

AI has quickly become one of the most transformative forces in our world. But what does that mean for you and your work in hospitality?

To give you the answer to that question, I’m gathering input from professionals across the hospitality industry, and would really appreciate your help on this project. In exchange for your participation, I’ll send you an exclusive summary of what I find. These insights will enable you to compare your experiences with others in hospitality and uncover practical ways to use AI in your work and business in 2025.

Participate here and get these insights

In our wide-ranging conversation with Janette Roush, SVP of Innovation and Chief AI Officer at Brand USA, about AI adoption in hospitality, she shares practical insights on how organizations can embrace AI to enhance - not replace - creative and meaningful work.

The hospitality industry faces a critical juncture with AI adoption. As Janette notes about her organization, "We're not always going to be in the position to outspend others, but we want to make sure that we're competitive from a smarts level."

This means learning to leverage AI effectively isn't just about efficiency - it's about staying competitive in an evolving industry.

Interestingly, seasoned professionals might have an edge in AI adoption.

"We know that you have to take out the Nintendo cartridge and blow on it to make it work," Janette shared with a laugh. "We know that technology doesn't do exactly what you want it to do the very first time."

This highlights a key lesson: "You have to have the experience to look at the output and know if it is good or not... it's not enough that a computer did it instantaneously."

Rather than attempting massive AI initiatives, begin with small, practical applications. "Don't approach the problem with 'I need to AI my website,'" Janette advises. "The role is more helping your staff understand what the opportunities are."

Organizations need both top-down support and bottom-up experimentation. Without leadership backing, Janette warns, "your staff is going to be concerned that this is cheating, that they're not supposed to do this."

"The stuff is really cool and it is really fun," Janette said. "I approach everything I do with this sense of 'oh my goodness, I can't believe this is possible.' And I think that's a much more inspirational framework than 'hey, don't you want to be more efficient?'"

A common concern is whether using AI feels like "cheating” at work. Janette reframes this powerfully: "From our nonprofit perspective, we have the privilege of working in some cases with public funding to benefit our destinations. So might we have an ethical obligation to do the best work that we can and to do as much of it as we can?"

Start by identifying tasks that consume 5% of your time. "If that's the only thing you ever achieve, I think that's still a big win," Janette notes. "I don't need to outsource the things I like. I need to outsource compiling information from 20 different people at my company for the annual report."

The future of hospitality work will likely involve overseeing AI agents handling routine tasks. "The agents aren't on their own going to say, 'oh goodness, hurricane coming, let me jump into action,'" Janette explains. "We can see our roles more as overseeing armies of these agents that are doing all of these individual tasks."

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Thank you for reading.

-Josiah