Revenue Management is entering a new phase.
At this year’s ITB Berlin fair, one theme appeared again and again in conversations across the industry: AI is rapidly changing how travellers search, compare and eventually book hotels.
For hoteliers, this does not only affect technology. It affects distribution strategies, marketing decisions, and how hotels make themselves discoverable online. From personalized search and AI-driven travel assistants to deeper integration between commercial systems, the implications for Revenue Management are significant.
Below are the key insights I took with me from ITB Berlin and what they might mean for hotels moving forward.
In this article we will look at several themes that were discussed repeatedly at ITB:
One concept that came up repeatedly was MCP (Model Context Protocol).
In simple terms, MCP helps AI systems understand and retrieve structured information from different sources. For hotels, this means that content must be organised in a way that AI systems can interpret and surface.
This goes beyond website text. It includes:
If this information is structured well, AI-powered search tools can retrieve it when travellers ask complex questions.
In other words: the better your content structure, the easier it is for AI to find you.
Search behaviour is changing rapidly.
A guest might search for:
These are very different searches describing the same hotel.
Traditional SEO focused on keywords. But AI-driven search engines interpret meaning, context and intent.
This means hotels should focus less on optimising a few keywords and more on rich, descriptive content that reflects the full experience.
Think about describing:
The richer the content, the easier it becomes for AI search tools to match your hotel with the right traveller.
Google shared an interesting insight that also appeared in conversations across the fair.
Globally, guests now start their travel planning around 45 days before arrival and spend roughly 50 hours researching their trip before booking.
They also appear to book earlier than before.
However, when comparing this with booking data from many hotels in Europe, we often see the opposite trend: shorter booking windows.
This suggests the global data might be influenced by markets outside Europe, where travel behaviour differs significantly.
For revenue managers, this highlights an important point:
global trends are useful, but always compare them with your own data.
Another term heard everywhere at ITB was personalised search.
AI-driven search tools are increasingly able to tailor results based on:
Instead of the same list of hotels for everyone, travellers may soon see completely different hotel suggestions depending on their profile.
This raises an important question:
Are hotels ready for this shift?
If AI chooses which hotels to recommend, visibility may depend on how well your product matches the traveller's profile, not just how high you rank on an OTA.
Another interesting development is stronger cooperation between technology platforms.
One example discussed at ITB was the integration between:
Imagine this scenario:
This kind of automated commercial coordination could become a powerful tool for hotels.
But it also requires something important:
reliable data and strong alignment between systems.
This topic resonated strongly during several discussions.
Marketing teams often measure success through ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend).
Revenue managers focus on total revenue and profitability.
But what happens when a marketing campaign produces great ROAS while reducing total revenue for the hotel?
For example:
If teams are working towards different KPIs, they may optimise different outcomes.
The message from ITB was clear:
The future belongs to integrated commercial strategies, where revenue management, marketing and distribution work towards the same business goals.
AI tools such as ChatGPT are not only used by leisure travellers.
Corporate travellers are also starting to use AI assistants to:
This means AI is influencing not only leisure demand but also corporate booking behaviour.
Hotels should therefore consider how their content appears in AI-driven research tools.
AI was also discussed in relation to professional services.
One example mentioned was the legal profession. Experts suggested that technology might automate certain tasks traditionally handled by lawyers.
However, most believe full replacement is still some time away.
The same question applies to hospitality.
Technology may automate some operational or analytical tasks, but hospitality itself remains human-driven.
At the same time, experts agree on one thing:
Change is happening extremely quickly.
Hotels that experiment early with AI tools will likely have a stronger position in the future.
One of the most provocative discussions was the idea that AI assistants could eventually replace traditional booking engines.
Imagine a traveller asking: "Find me a boutique hotel in Stockholm near the central station with a spa and good restaurant for next weekend."
Instead of visiting multiple websites, the AI assistant could:
In that scenario, the traditional booking engine interface might disappear behind the AI interaction.
Whether this happens, and how quickly, remains uncertain.
But it raises an important strategic question:
How will hotels ensure their inventory is accessible in AI-driven booking environments?
ITB Berlin confirmed one thing: the commercial landscape in hospitality is evolving quickly.
AI, personalised search and integrated technology platforms are already reshaping how guests discover and book hotels.
For hotels, the key priorities moving forward may include:
The goal remains the same as always: making it easier for the right guest to find the right hotel.
The coming years will likely transform how travellers search, evaluate and book hotels.
If you are wondering how these changes affect your Revenue Management and distribution strategy, it might be time to take a closer look at how your commercial systems and content work together.
At Taktikon, we help hotels translate industry trends into practical commercial strategies that drive revenue.
Let’s continue the conversation.
