- Hotels adopt GenAI, few reduce work.
- Most see small gains, not operational change.
- Trust, privacy concerns limit autonomy.
MORE THAN HALF of hotels now use or are procuring generative AI, but fewer than one in 10 have cut manual work by more than 30 percent, according to a new report. Adoption is running ahead of measurable business impact.
The State of Distribution 2026 report by NYU School of Professional Studies' Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, RateGain and HEDNA found that most hotels are seeing small gains rather than changes to how their commercial teams operate.
"Buying AI is easy. Getting value from it is not, and this report shows most of the industry is still stuck between the two," said Bhanu Chopra, RateGain founder and managing director. "The advantage will not go to the hotels with the most tools. It will go to the ones that turn their technology into better decisions and give their teams their time back. That shift has not happened yet and it is the single biggest opportunity in front of the industry."
The third annual report draws on data from more than 270 hotel brands and 58,000 properties across 141 cities and 53 countries, covering technology investment, AI adoption, distribution and traveler behavior across revenue management, marketing, sales and distribution.
More than 80 percent of commercial teams spend one to two days a week producing and analyzing reports manually, and fewer than 30 percent have invested in reporting tools, the report said Commercial teams are collaborating more and reviewing performance together more often, but disconnected systems, data and vendors continue to limit access to shared information.
Trust, data privacy and governance concerns limit AI autonomy, the study said. Hotels are using AI as an assistant but remain cautious about letting it make decisions or act independently.
Technology budgets are rising as hotels focus on improving existing systems, increasing productivity and reducing vendor complexity rather than adding platforms. The market is shifting from systems of record, which capture transactions and data, to systems of work, which help teams interpret signals, coordinate decisions and act.
Direct-booking technology is nearly universal, yet online travel agencies generate nearly twice as many bookings as hotel-owned digital channels, the report said. AI-generated search is contributing to reservations, while 55 percent of hotels report little or no change to their distribution strategy.
Meanwhile, mid-sized hotel chains emerged as a commercial sweet spot, reporting stronger cross-functional alignment, greater reporting automation, more mature AI governance and the highest rate of AI-led reductions in manual work.
Vanja Bogicevic, clinical associate professor and director of HI Hub Exchange at NYU’s Tisch Center, said AI is reshaping how travelers discover hotels, how commercial teams work and how pricing and demand decisions are made.
"Unbiased data beats hype,” said Lisa Murphy, HEDNA president. "Three years of this research show that commercial teams are becoming more connected and technology investment is growing, yet fragmented systems and manual work remain deeply embedded."
The survey covered hotel commercial operations from Dec. 1, 2024, through Nov. 30, 2025, comparing independent hotels, mid-sized chains and large hotel brands across generative AI, governance, zero-click search, booking attribution, traveler intent, behavioral pricing, data privacy and regulatory compliance.
A separate AI Readiness Report by Mindtrip, Sabre, Sojern and MMGY Travel found that travelers are adopting artificial intelligence for travel faster than destination organizations, running nearly two years ahead across discovery, planning and booking.
