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The following is a guest position of Matt Koch, customer director in Allbridge. Opinions are the own author.
There does not seem to be a major industry, B2B and B2C, which does not try to exploit the power and efficiency drawn from artificial intelligence. From research and development to expedition and logistics, the scope of AI feels endless and transformative.
For the hotel industry, early yields suggest obvious advantages. Many owners and land operators, for example, have created efficiency in the basic services of the support and the concierge of the guests who release ownership staff to add value to customer experience elsewhere. AI IA surveillance cameras systems can detect, analyze and respond to on -site security incidents more efficiently than traditional surveillance methods.
It is when the security problems go from the guests themselves to their data that the hotel industry will face its greatest challenge of threats fueled by AI. A 2023 industry report by the Cybersecurity Company Trustwave said that 31% of hotel organizations had underwent a data violation In the history of their business, 89% of these companies being affected more than once a year.
Gartner, meanwhile, planned that There will be a 15% growth in cybersecurity expenses In 2025, while predicting that by 2027, 17% of all cyber attacks will involve a generative AI.
While the hotel industry seeks to find the balance of risks-reversed around AI and cybersecurity, there are four macro-tendencies.
The big brands lead
The last five years have focused on technology for guests such as entertainment systems and Wi-Fi, and although many are affected by AI, the largest wave of IA has climbed so quickly that it has created an operational gap where the properties are faced with a more steep learning curve than typical of technological cycles.
As had been the case for years, however, innovation will start with major brands and will run to medium and smaller properties where the advice does not come from a central management function. It will be interesting to see if an approach wins on others, because industry giants such as Marriott International, Hilton and Hyatt hotels adopt distinctly different approaches from cybersecurity, depending on outsourcing and partner strategies.
Evolutionary threats lead to the cloud
Data threats are both external and internal. Outside, generative AI chatbots like Chatgpt can collect and store large amounts of guest data. This technology could create wider and more sophisticated cyber attacks due to its ability to create personalized and targeted messages.
Internally, the properties find that there are many different places that a hotel stored its customer data and little consensus on where. This has led some companies like Choice Hotels International to adopt a “default security” approach and move everything to the cloud and Basic security around Amazon web services construction.
Institutional changes prevent existential threats
The modern approach adopted by choice is far from the industry standard, however, and many hotel groups, especially the smallest, are vulnerable to cyberrencies and attacks.
There are several current errors that these groups can make. Some are based on inherited technological systems and platforms, some of which were deployed in the 1990s. Others made wide assumptions that external suppliers meet security needs.
Meanwhile, some hotels are counting on local IT support from small stores or practitioners who may not be on the front line of the latest solutions. And others still do not take the advice or recommendations of the company, or give priority to suggestions when given.
Tech on owners’ shoulders
Any connected device is a potential rear door for a hacker using an AI solution, especially since the pirate’s attempts become more elegant over time. A Nebraska real estate manager supervising a single destination, for example, could be surpassed. It is important that a hotel director reduces the surface of these potential intrusions.
Brands should help. The AI must be on their radar at the highest level and it must be realized that a CVC system with surveillance software can be a target as important as the main customer databases. This will require real changes in paradigm in the way cybersecurity is approached at the macro and micro level.
The owners, franchisees and computer leaders of the hotel industry must be proactive in their response, because cybersecurity attacks, in particular those supplied by AI, will only become stronger, faster and more difficult to identify.
The more technology added to meet the expectations of the guests, run back office and improve global experiences, which generally means that more suppliers are necessary to manage it, the more difficult it becomes to keep all the disparate parts of a system in progress. By working with a partner who can assess and have the technological infrastructure from start to finish, hotels can limit the time that their staff spends computer management and saving the budget through the selection and management of strategic technologies.