Sixty-three percent of hotel industry professionals say they use AI regularly in their work, and another 34.7% use it occasionally, according to a new survey of 98 respondents released by Destination AI at its annual forum in Washington, DC. Just 1% said they do not use AI at all.

The report, "The State of AI in the Hotel Industry," drew respondents primarily from management companies, ownership and investment organizations, hotel properties, brands and vertically integrated companies. CEO and cofounder Nazpari Aydin presented the findings at the conference.

The usage numbers are translating into generally positive sentiment. More than 80% of respondents said AI has made their work better, while 14.3% described the results as mixed. No respondents said AI had made their work worse, though 5.1% said it is too early to tell. When asked to select multiple words describing their feelings about AI tools at work, 73% chose "excited," 67% "curious" and 52% "hopeful" — while 26% said "overwhelmed," 16% "skeptical" and 15% "worried."

AI is also consuming real hours. Nearly 44% of respondents reported spending at least 10 hours per week working with AI inside and outside of work, including 15.9% who spend 20 hours or more. Not a single respondent reported spending no time with AI.

Routine Work Is the Clear Win

The strongest measured benefit is time saved on routine tasks. Of those who evaluated AI's effect on routine work, 46.2% said it made that part of their job "significantly better" and 44.1% said "somewhat better." Only 7.5% reported no change, and none said the impact was worse.

Yet users are not treating AI output as unquestioned fact. Only 1.1% said they fully trust AI results and rarely double-check them. The largest group — 67.8% — said they mostly trust AI but verify important information, while 22.2% trust it only for low-stakes tasks and 8.9% always verify its output.

Organizational Maturity Lags Individual Adoption

While individual adoption is high, organizational discipline is uneven. Only 12.6% of respondents described their organizations as having an AI strategy, governance and scaled execution across functions. The largest group, 29.5%, said strategy and governance have been defined but execution remains fragmented. Another 26.3% characterized their organization's approach as having no formal strategy and relying on ad hoc experimentation.

Where AI has delivered the strongest results aligns with those priorities: 38% of respondents pointed to operational efficiency, including cost savings and productivity. Commercial performance — marketing, sales, revenue management and distribution — followed at 27.8%, while 7.6% selected guest communications and service.

The ROI Question Remains Unanswered

Whether AI spending pays for itself remains a complicated question. Among 75 respondents, 24% said their organization's AI investment has paid for itself overall, and 18.7% said some use cases have while others have not. Another 28% said it is simply too early to tell. Only 9.3% said AI has not yet paid for itself.

The larger issue may be that many companies aren't measuring returns rigorously enough to answer the question at all. More than one-third — 35.2% — said their organization does not currently measure AI ROI. Another 19.7% rely primarily on qualitative or anecdotal feedback. Only 14.1% use defined KPIs measured before and after deployment, and just 5.6% commit AI benefits into business-unit budgets or P&Ls and hold the investments to the same standards as other technology expenditures.

The survey suggests the hotel industry's bigger challenge is no longer the technology itself but the organization: turning widespread AI usage into a disciplined business capability that can consistently deliver measurable value.