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Alice Ashe, Marketing Director at Scrumptious Marketing, follows up on her live session at the Independent Hotel Show 2025 with some top tips for hoteliers to effectively use AI in their business. 

When I asked a packed audience of hoteliers at the Independent Hotel Show who was already using AI, about half the hands went up. The rest stayed firmly in laps… curious, cautious, waiting to see what all the fuss was about. And honestly, I get it. For independent hotels, time is precious, teams are small and there’s always a queue of tasks that feel more urgent than figuring out ChatGPT.

But here’s what I told all those hoteliers that day, and what I’ll tell you now: AI isn’t about replacing people, it’s about freeing them up to focus on what really makes an impact.

Depending on the size of the hotel, many independent hoteliers are juggling multiple roles. Guest experience, social media, rotas, recruitment, emails, reviews, the list goes on. There’s rarely time to think strategically because you’re stuck firefighting the small stuff.

AI doesn’t come in to take over those decisions. It simply takes the repetition out of them. Whether that’s drafting a job ad, summarising last month’s reviews or writing a guest email, AI can handle the first draft so you can focus on the details that make your hotel human.

I often tell hoteliers, “If you write, repeat, or rework it constantly, AI can probably help.”

During the session, a few hoteliers shared how they’re already using AI day to day. From analysing guest reviews to generating social posts and marketing content. Others talked about the AI already built into their revenue management systems that helps with pricing behind the scenes.

But those hands in the air were the minority. Most hoteliers still aren’t making the most of it and that’s exactly why these conversations matter. Because every independent hotel can be using AI to save time and deliver a better guest experience right now.

The most important thing to remember, and something I repeat often, is that AI doesn’t deliver hospitality; people do.

AI can draft your content, schedule your housekeeping or analyse guest sentiment. But it can’t smile at check-in, calm an unhappy guest or anticipate what someone needs before they ask. That’s the bit that belongs entirely to you.

Think of it like an assistant who never sleeps: brilliant at routine, hopeless at empathy. The more you train it to sound like your brand - your tone, your guests, your priorities - the more useful it becomes. But you’re still the voice behind it.

Learning to talk to AI

When AI tools give you bland or robotic results, it’s not that the tech has failed - it’s the prompt.

I use a really simple structure for writing better ones:
[What you want] + [What it’s for] + [How it should sound] + [Must-haves or avoid]

For example:

“Create a clear and concise presentation outline for our senior leadership team that summarises guest reviews from the past three months. Identify recurring themes and patterns in feedback, highlight sentiment trends and suggest areas for improvement.

Use a professional but approachable tone. Keep it hotel-relevant and insight-led. Avoid generic phrasing and overuse of AI-style language - it needs to sound like a senior manager who knows the business inside out.”

The more context you give, the better the output!

Where to begin

If you’re just dipping your toes in, don’t start with the big, complicated stuff. Start with one thing that drains your time every week.

Maybe it’s rewriting job ads. Maybe it’s summarising reviews. Maybe it’s the endless guest emails. Pick one, open ChatGPT (or Claude or Copilot or whatever you use), and spend fifteen minutes playing around, testing it out.

You’ll quickly find where it fits and, just as importantly, where it doesn’t.

The biggest shift for you here is mindset. Once teams realise AI isn’t a threat, they start to see it as a tool that makes their jobs easier.

So what’s my best advice?

Start small. Measure the time you save. And keep the conversation open with your team. When people feel involved, they’re more likely to experiment and that’s where real progress happens.

Hospitality has always been about connection, creativity and care. AI doesn’t change that; it just gives you more time to deliver it.

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If you want to see how AI can genuinely make your hotel run smarter and give you and your team time back, I work directly with independent properties on everything from discovery and strategy through to hands-on implementation, building AI into your everyday operations in a way that genuinely works for you.

Whether you’re looking for a half-day workshop to get your team started or full consultancy support to embed AI across your business, we can shape an approach that fits your goals.

If you want to explore how AI could work inside your hotel, email me at alice@scrumptiousmarketing.com.