Joe Watkins, the newly appointed Head of AI and Data at Journey, a hospitality performance platform used by more than 750 hotels including Chewton Glen, Grantley Hall and The BoTree, argues that hotels must adopt retail-style commercial discipline or risk falling behind as AI reshapes guest expectations. Watkins, who previously spent over a decade working with major UK supermarkets and online retailers, said the biggest opportunity lies in treating every guest interaction as a chance to increase revenue, not just fill rooms.
Applying retail thinking to hotel revenue
Watkins said hotels have much to learn from retailers, who invested heavily in data and personalisation over the past 20 years. "Rooms typically account for around 50-60% of revenue, maximising every other sales opportunity is no longer optional," he said. Too many hotels introduce unnecessary friction into the booking process, missing chances to sell spa treatments, dining, and activities. "Friction is a revenue killer," Watkins said. "Merchandise your experiences with compelling imagery and rich product descriptions, allow guests to add everything to a single basket, recommend relevant upsells before check out, and make purchasing as effortless as possible."
Personalisation, he said, starts with well-organised data. Custom AI agents can surface insights on mobile devices, marketing teams can interrogate data to build campaigns, and hotel websites should react in real time to show relevant offers. Most hotels already have the technology and the data; the challenge is applying it with the same commercial discipline retailers adopted decades ago.
Plugging revenue leaks in the guest journey
The biggest commercial drain, according to Watkins, is fragmentation. A guest may book a room but never discover the restaurant or spa because those systems are separate. "Missing imagery, incomplete descriptions, disconnected booking systems or inventory that isn't available online all reduce conversion," he said. Hotels don't need to invent new experiences; they need to make existing ones visible, bookable, and connected. That shift moves the focus from chasing new guests to extracting more value from existing demand.
Journey's research found that only 28% of hospitality businesses believe their current infrastructure can easily support these additional revenue opportunities. A connected commerce platform brings spa, dining, wellness, and activities into one booking flow, letting guests personalise their stay before they arrive. A wellness guest should have a different journey from a business traveller, and connected technology makes that level of personalisation achievable.
AI agents go beyond chatbot answers
Watkins sees the next generation of AI as agents that complete tasks, not just answer questions. "The next generation of AI isn't about answering questions, it's about completing meaningful tasks," he said. On the guest side, AI agents will plan entire stays, build itineraries, and handle bookings across systems. Internally, they'll monitor systems, highlight revenue opportunities, update content, and automate reporting. The goal is to augment teams, not replace them, with human oversight remaining essential for commercial decisions and guest service.
These agents also learn from guest questions. When a query can't be answered, it's passed to the team, and the response becomes part of the agent's knowledge base. That data can improve search optimisation, website content, and even generate ideas for new products and revenue streams.
For hospitality professionals looking to build their AI skills, resources such as AI for Hospitality & Events provide practical guidance on using data and AI to drive commercial results. Understanding the shift from static systems to intelligent agents will be critical for teams managing guest experiences and operations.
Case study: Hope Street Hotel's revenue jump
Watkins pointed to Hope Street Hotel in Liverpool, which used Journey's platform to connect accommodation, spa, and dining bookings into one journey. After the introduction, the hotel reported an 18% year-on-year increase in direct revenue and a 140% rise in spa revenue compared to 2023. "These results weren't driven by adding more products. They came from removing friction, connecting previously separate booking journeys and making it easier for guests to personalise their stay before they arrived," Watkins said.
The example illustrates why experience retailing shouldn't be seen as ancillary. Spa, dining, wellness, golf, and retail are core commercial assets. Watkins said hotel leaders should shift from measuring only RevPAR to tracking TRevPAR - total revenue per available room - to capture the full value of each stay. A hotel can sell a room once per night, but it can increase the value of that stay by making more experiences easy to purchase.
Why this matters for hospitality and events professionals
Watkins' advice for the next 12 months is practical: build connected, trusted data foundations; audit the guest journey to ensure every experience is bookable across digital touchpoints; and apply AI to high-value use cases that remove friction for guests and staff. The winners, he said, will be the hotels that move beyond counting heads in beds and start measuring the total value of each guest. For events and hospitality teams, that means breaking down silos between departments and treating every touchpoint as a revenue opportunity, not a cost centre.
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