Editorial Team

🏨 Florencia Cueto Pedrotti of Shiji conversed with Juanda Núñez, founder of Smart Travel News, discussing the importance of storytelling over sterile feature presentations in hospitality. Key takeaways include: overcoming legacy system integration issues, personal touches fostering emotional connections, differentiation through technology, and AI's role in enhancing productivity and strategy. The future emphasizes a balance between human-centric services and technological efficiency, where IT enhances rather than replaces human connections.

🏨 Juanjo Rodríguez, founder and CEO of The Hotels Network, discusses the evolution of direct sales, personalization, and AI in hospitality. Emphasizing the continuous improvement of direct booking channels, he highlights the importance of data analysis and exclusive offers for direct bookers. Over a decade, Rodríguez observed a yearly increase in client direct bookings. He advocates for simplicity in the booking process, considering attribute-based selling that can potentially increase average daily rates (ADRs) but may complicate bookings. AI's role is seen as automating routine tasks and enhancing personalization, not replacing human interaction. KITT, an AI-powered virtual receptionist, exemplifies how technology supports customer service by handling calls and bookings in multiple languages. Rodríguez emphasizes keeping client priorities foremost in the digital age, balancing technology and human touch for successful hotel management.