Quick Overview:

  • Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Choice Hotels International each announced this week the launch of their new AI-driven tools.
  • Wyndham introduced a native ChatGPT application designed for conversational search, aiming to make hotel discovery and booking processes "more intuitive." Users can browse approximately 8,400 hotels in Wyndham's global portfolio through map navigation and amenity filters. Meanwhile, Choice International released a series of new AI-driven tools that, according to the company, are designed to "help owners capture demand and operate more efficiently."
  • These two companies are among the competitors in the hotel industry investing in artificial intelligence, not only to simplify trip planning for travelers increasingly turning to generative AI, but also to optimize operations for employees and owners.

Deep Insights:

Wyndham's new app, according to the company, is the first native hotel application among major U.S. economy and midscale franchisors to be available within OpenAI's ChatGPT. But hotel competitors are providing conversational search experiences to travelers in different ways.

Hilton launched a generative AI-powered digital concierge in March to help customers plan trips; Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano said on Wednesday's earnings call that the company plans to launch a "powerful natural language search experience" on its website in the second quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, Choice International partnered with AWS last month on an enterprise-level AI deployment that will impact how guests discover and book Choice properties, as well as how franchisees manage operations. The company's latest series of AI-driven tools focuses on the latter. On Thursday, Choice International announced these new solutions, which, according to a press release, are designed to help franchise owners "drive more revenue and improve operational efficiency."

Choice International's new tools include: Choice Hotels Business Direct, a self-service digital booking platform for small and medium-sized businesses; EasyBid, an AI-enhanced group proposal request tool; CHARLIE, an AI-driven virtual "teammate" designed to assist employees through core operations platforms; and RAISE, a rate management tool designed to simplify how owners manage pricing, rates, and inventory.

Wyndham is also integrating AI system-wide to deliver measurable returns for franchisees, as the company detailed on Wednesday.

"As AI becomes central to travel planning and purchasing, our focus is on turning innovation into tangible outcomes for owners," said Michael Mahar, senior vice president and head of commercial technology at Wyndham, in a statement. "Whether it's helping reduce operating costs, driving incremental revenue, or expanding distribution through new platforms like ChatGPT, our goal is to enable franchisees to compete more effectively while providing better experiences for guests."

Since 2018, Wyndham has invested more than $450 million in technology, including the launch of its AI-driven guest engagement platform Wyndham Connect in 2024.

According to a report released in March by Canary Technologies, a majority of hotel industry IT decision-makers currently believe that AI is having a significant or transformative impact on the hotel industry.