Strengthen customer ties as AI changes hotel-booking behaviour: Far East Hospitality, Global Hotel Alliance

[SINGAPORE] As artificial intelligence becomes more influential when planning travel, hospitality players should increasingly leverage direct customer ties and reach them early, said Mark Rohner, managing director of Far East Hospitality, on Oct 21 (Wednesday).

And hoteliers will also need to integrate themselves into this AI discovery process, added Chris Hartley, CEO of Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands which connects these brands through its shared loyalty programme.

The two were speaking at a media round table on the sidelines of the Hotel Investment Conference Asia-Pacific, after signing a partnership that would add Far East Hospitality to GHA’s portfolio.

A survey among 30 GHA hotel brand CEOs in August found that 91 per cent of these Asia-Pacific hotel leaders believed AI assistants would be among the most influential booking channels by 2030.

Just 18 per cent of this group said they expected online travel agencies (OTAs) to have a similar level of influence.

Rohner said that, against this backdrop, there was therefore value in “getting in one step before the search process”, and that a strong loyalty network could “short-circuit” the discovery process that would involve AI.

Those using AI to search for hotels may have general parameters – not necessarily brands – in mind, he said. This was therefore an opportunity for GHA to build loyalty and present itself and its app as an alternative to an AI search or an agent.

GHA’s Hartley said two-thirds of the bookings received come through its app, which underscored how crucial it is to build awareness of its value.

‘Be more visible to AI searches’

Both he and Rohner say hospitality brands and GHA should also focus on becoming more visible to AI searches.

In GHA’s survey, 82 per cent in the Asia-Pacific cite AI recommendations as a leading anticipated influence on hotel choice – ahead of even destination, experiences or events.

Hartley said that AI could present an opportunity or a risk.

During the advent of the Internet, third-party OTAs were faster off the mark in reacting to it than hoteliers, he said.

Owner-operators of hotel assets find that bookings made through OTAs – as opposed to direct bookings – create a higher cost of sale, which bites into the bottom line.

But Hartley expressed hope that the brands under GHA can collectively “get ahead of the game a little bit this time around”.

Customers know how to sniff out deals, and good ones tend to come from a loyalty programme environment, he said. It is thus important to make GHA discoverable, which means getting “the right content in the right places”.

Far East Hospitality is doing this by redesigning its website and descriptions, so that it can respond to questions that potential customers are asking large-language models.

FEH joins GHA

This discussion came after Rohner and Hartley signed an agreement that will put 26 of Far East Hospitality’s hotels and serviced apartments – comprising 6,212 rooms in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan – into GHA’s global portfolio on Apr 1, 2027.

These will include properties from five brands – Oasia, Quincy, Rendezvous, Village and Far East Collection.

This will bring the group into GHA’s loyalty programme, under which members can access a shared recognition and rewards ecosystem, with redemptions shared among GHA brands, alongside special rates, upgrades and experiences.

Rohner and Hartley are hoping for “cross pollination” among GHA’s brands, with greater visibility offered by the alliance’s wider platform, and Far East Hospitality is also looking for a higher repeat guest ratio.