Real things hoteliers can do with AI today, job loss & more

Today, Sloan Dean joins us to share what we all can do right now with AI to become better at work. This is timely as J.P. Morgan called 2026 the year hotel AI investments start producing measurable earnings gains across the largest U.S. hotel companies. In other news, the February U.S. jobs report landed hard: the economy lost 92,000 jobs, with leisure and hospitality shedding 27,000 positions. Every hotel stock is in the red this morning. Onwards…

Today On the Podcast

Guest Experience & Design

Hotel owner and operator Bashar Wali drew a sharp line between “VIP theater” and real guest recognition this week. Writing about Alaska Airlines personally calling him, Wali observed: "Champagne says you spent money. A phone call says you paid attention. Not the same thing. Most brands confuse VIP with expensive. The fruit plate. The staged arrival. The suite they gave you was because the computer flagged your tier. Theater. None of it sticks. What sticks is recognition. Not 'we know your status.' We know you." Worth reading alongside every hotel's loyalty personalization roadmap. The systems should be designed to recognize people, not just their tier. Read more on LinkedIn

Delano Miami Beach reopens March 9 after six years closed, with Ennismore's full renovation of all 171 rooms and Paris Society making its U.S. culinary debut. Elastic Architects led the redesign with a new tonal palette and bespoke furnishings across rooms, poolside bungalow suites, and penthouses. Paris Society brings Italian restaurant Gigi Rigolatto and Japanese concept Mimi Kakushi as the French hospitality group's first American venues, alongside a redesigned Rose Bar, new beachfront amenity deck, and fourth-floor pool. The bet Ennismore is making: F&B can be the defining identity of a luxury lifestyle hotel, not just another amenity. Read more via Ennismore

People & Process

Marriott CFO Leeny Oberg retires this month after 26 years, reflecting in an exit interview on the Starwood integration, pandemic crisis leadership, and a tech transformation now rolling out across the portfolio. Oberg said Marriott is "fully rolling out" new property management, loyalty, and reservation systems after extensive testing in late 2025, calling it "dramatically better for all constituencies" in how associates operate and how guests communicate with the brand. Her biggest career lesson: time is the enemy in a crisis. "You can stew and stew, but you actually do the most, even if you make mistakes, by being decisive." Read more on Hotel Dive

Commercial

OpenAI has abandoned in-chat checkout for ChatGPT after users researched products but refused to buy, sending Expedia shares up 13% and Booking Holdings up 8%. OpenAI built Agentic Commerce Protocol technology for direct transactions, but couldn't close the conversion gap. "We're prioritizing making ChatGPT search and product discovery great...with Instant Checkout moving to apps," an OpenAI spokesperson said. The barriers proved steeper than expected: synchronizing live pricing and availability, sales tax compliance, fraud prevention, and the basic challenge of changing consumer behavior. Conversational AI appears to be accelerating discovery faster than it can handle transactions, leaving OTAs in control of the booking layer for now. Read more on Skift

Money Moves

The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, far worse than the 50,000 gain economists expected, with leisure and hospitality shedding 27,000 positions. Unemployment ticked up to 4.4%. The losses were broad-based: healthcare lost 18,600 jobs, construction lost 11,000, and manufacturing lost 12,000. Hotel stocks sold off across the board: Hyatt fell 5.5%, Hilton dropped 4.2%, Marriott declined 3.5%, and Wyndham and Choice were both down more than 4%. Hotel REITs fared no better, with Park Hotels down 4.3%, Host Hotels down 4%, and RLJ Lodging down 4.1%. Treasury yields fell on rising expectations that the Fed will have to resume rate cuts, though policymakers face a difficult moment with inflation still above 2% and energy price disruptions from the Iran conflict. Read more on The Wall Street Journal

U.S. hotel performance was nearly flat for the week ending Feb. 28, with occupancy at 62.8% (unchanged YoY), ADR at $159.03 (-0.2%), and RevPAR at $99.85 (-0.2%), per CoStar. The week-after-week flatness reinforces the grinding, slow-growth environment heading into a jobs picture that just got meaningfully worse. Read more on Lodging Magazine

J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Politzer called 2026 the inflection point when hotel AI investments start producing measurable earnings, not just efficiency experiments. Hyatt's group sales teams have achieved roughly 20% productivity improvement through AI tools. Wyndham's AI-powered call centers, including an integration with Anthropic's Claude for conversational property discovery, have cut franchisee labor costs while generating hundreds of basis points in additional direct bookings. Marriott, Hilton, and Choice are also scaling partnerships with OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. One caution: some leaders worry uniform AI presentation across platforms could weaken brand differentiation in direct channels. Read more on Skift

Beyond Hotels

FASHION → HOSPITALITY: The Business of Fashion's State of Fashion 2026 report finds fashion brands are building "third spaces" that blur the line between retail, wellness, and hospitality. Kith Ivy's new NYC members' club combines padel courts, an Armani Spa, dining, and retail in a single environment. Dior is expanding its portfolio of branded spas; Lululemon operates yoga hubs and retreat programs. The wellness market is growing 6% annually, and 84% of U.S. consumers now prioritize wellness spending. For hoteliers: fashion and retail brands are building the kinds of immersive wellness environments guests increasingly expect when they check in. Read more on Business of Fashion