As travelers increasingly turn to AI tools to help plan trips and research accommodations, hotels may face a new challenge: competing for recommendations, not just search rankings. Drawing on recent Deloitte travel research and GuestInsight's consumer hotel survey, this article explores how recommendation-driven discovery may change the way travelers evaluate hotels, why reviews alone provide an incomplete picture of the guest experience, and how hotels can build a stronger body of evidence around what guests actually experience. The implications extend beyond marketing, touching guest feedback strategy, reputation management, and the future of hotel discovery itself.

Deloitte's newly released 2026 Summer Travel Survey reveals a travel market that appears increasingly divided between consumers pulling back on discretionary travel and those willing to spend more for higher-quality experiences. In this article, I break down the report's most important findings for hospitality operators, including declining travel intent, rising vacation budgets, resilient hotel demand, growing use of AI in travel planning, and what these trends may mean for guest expectations in the months ahead. I also offer a survey researcher's perspective on why some of the headline statistics deserve careful interpretation and why methodology, question wording, and category definitions matter when evaluating industry trend reports.

J.D. Power’s 2025 North America Third-Party Hotel Management Guest Satisfaction Benchmark Study highlights Atrium Hospitality, Crescent Hotels & Resorts, Columbia Sussex, and Davidson Hospitality Group as top performers. Beyond the rankings, the study points to industry-wide pressure points in food & beverage and facilities upkeep — themes we also see echoed in guest surveys we run for clients. In this post, we explore what the benchmark is designed to do, where its methodology places natural limits, and how it fits into the broader ecosystem of guest feedback, including online reviews and independent surveys.

AI is no longer just powering search—it’s shaping how guests discover, evaluate, and choose hotels. In this post, we explore how review content is being summarized, surfaced, and sometimes rewritten by AI tools behind the scenes. From Google to ChatGPT to AI travel assistants, guest decisions are increasingly driven by recurring themes and sentiment patterns—not just star ratings. We also share practical strategies hotel teams can use to adapt, including how tools like GuestInsight’s ELLA help analyze and prioritize feedback at scale.

Hotel review scores can make or break booking decisions—but are they as accurate as they appear? In this piece, we dig into the hidden assumptions behind 5-point rating scales on platforms like TripAdvisor, Google, and Yelp. From vague labels to inconsistent interpretations, the math behind those tenths of a point isn’t always what it seems. For hoteliers, understanding how these scores are built—and where they fall short—can offer crucial perspective in a reputation-driven market.

It’s been ten years since we first applied data analytics to the chaos of the NCAA Tournament. In 2015, we built a simple bracket-predicting simulation using RPI and historical upset trends—not because we’re college basketball experts, but because we love working with data. This year, we revisited the challenge using AI to help us quickly build a more dynamic, realistic simulation model—complete with randomized upset ranges, “shocker” surprises, and late-round variability. Our 2025 version isn’t about predicting a perfect bracket—it’s about using data (and a little chaos) to reflect the unpredictability of March Madness itself. With AI as a collaborative partner, we built a more nuanced and creative simulation in less time, offering a unique look at how humans and technology can work together to tackle complex challenges.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) audit of the Social Security Administration (SSA) made headlines with claims that benefits were being paid to individuals 150 years old and older. But as someone with experience in legacy systems, I recognize that this is more likely a case of how old databases handle missing information rather than fraud. The SSA still relies on COBOL, a programming language from 1959, and longstanding placeholder dates that can create misleading data points when misinterpreted. In this post, I break down what likely caused these anomalies and why this is a tech issue, not a scandal. To provide a balanced perspective, I’ve cited sources from neutral, left-leaning, and right-leaning media outlets.

Choosing the right survey platform is critical for enhancing guest satisfaction and reputation. This guide answers key FAQs for hoteliers, covering features to look for, the value of dedicated platforms, and how a great survey experience supports your brand and boosts ROI.

The hospitality industry is grappling with the increasing prevalence of fake reviews, which significantly influence travelers' decisions. In 2023, TripAdvisor blocked a record number of fake reviews, highlighting the severity of the issue. The Federal Trade Commission is also taking action, proposing new rules to penalize businesses engaging in deceptive review practices. GuestInsight has long advocated for a proactive approach to combat fake reviews, emphasizing the importance of collecting authentic feedback through guest surveys, resolving issues promptly, and encouraging satisfied guests to share their experiences on review sites. By implementing these strategies and utilizing tools like GuestInsight's review enhancement features, hotels can improve their online reputation and gain a competitive advantage.

Tired of low response rates and vague feedback? Discover how a respectful, guest-centric approach to feedback requests can unlock a wealth of valuable insights. Learn how to prioritize the guest experience, craft effective feedback requests, and improve communication strategies to gather actionable data that will help you boost guest loyalty and enhance their overall satisfaction.

In "Tell Me What I Want To Hear: It's Not About You, It's About Me," we explore the prevalent issue of biased customer experience feedback requests, particularly in the automotive industry. Drawing on decades of experience in guest and customer feedback, the post contrasts genuine feedback practices in hospitality with the methodologies that have been part of the automobile industry for decades. Highlighting the importance of honest feedback, it urges industries to value real customer insights.

Inspired by Novak Djokovic's unparalleled achievements on the tennis court, our latest blog post explores the essence of a champion's mindset in both sports and business. Highlighting the transformative power of feedback and the necessity of iterative improvement, we underscore the importance of genuine customer and guest feedback, especially in customer-centric and experience-driven industries like hospitality. Discover how embracing Djokovic's ethos of relentless reinvention can be a guiding star for achieving sustained success in any endeavor.

We explore how new AI tools, like ChatGPT, can transform the way hospitality operators analyze guest feedback. Through sentiment analysis, distillation, summarization, categorization, and targeted insights, these AI models can save time, streamline processes, and enable faster responses to feedback.

This post delves into the often frustrating world of online reviews, shedding light on the mismatch between star ratings and review content. We discuss how subjective grading scales, personal experiences, and cultural influences can lead to disparities in how reviewers rate businesses. Additionally, we explore the implications of this 'Easy A' phenomenon for consumers, who may have to sift through conflicting reviews, and businesses, particularly in the hospitality industry, that need to interpret and act on these mixed signals. We also take a look at how businesses can leverage advanced tools like Natural Language Processing (NLP) for a more nuanced understanding of reviews, highlighting the potential for both improved services and stronger guest relationships.

We put ChatGPT to the test by asking it to create a how-to guide for hospitality operators who prefer using self-service survey tools or email marketing platforms for their guest survey programs instead of all-in-one solutions like GuestInsight. We wanted to see if the guide would align with our principles and be a useful resource for hospitality professionals. The resulting guide, "Mastering Guest Satisfaction: A DIY Guide to Creating Impactful Hospitality Surveys," provides ten best practices for designing effective guest surveys, emphasizing clear objectives, diverse question types, mobile optimization, and more.

This blog post discusses the importance of optimizing customer experience in the hospitality industry and how guest feedback and guest journey mapping can be used to capture the voice of the guest and increase lifetime guest value. By collecting and managing guest feedback through various channels and using guest surveys and journey mapping, hospitality professionals can identify areas for improvement and provide more personalized and satisfying experiences for their guests. This approach not only leads to higher guest satisfaction and loyalty but also contributes to sustainable business growth.

This blog post compares two AI language models' evaluations of three guest comments for hotel testimonials. The goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of using AI-based sentiment analysis to generate testimonial pages. The comments were evaluated by GuestInsight's algorithm and ChatGPT's AI model, and guest expectations were considered in the analysis. The post discusses the variability of sentiment analysis and the importance of context, as well as the usefulness of AI-based sentiment analysis for generating testimonial pages. The post concludes by acknowledging the need for human curation tools to sort out mixed signals in written comments.

Using AI to conduct research and organize thoughts into a blog post (and marketing content). Today's topic: Learn how to transform negative online reviews into positive results in the hospitality industry. Discover insights for improving guest experience, building guest-centricity, and making data-driven decisions to improve reputation, success, and guest satisfaction.

We took ChatGPT for a spin on a topic we’re pretty familiar with. It wrote a perfectly formatted blog post with on-point content in about 30 seconds. See it here:

What's in the stars? Looking at 5 point rating scales, historically and in common practice today; TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, & Yelp.

Having a guest experience feedback program in place is great, but it's important to ensure proper action is taken on the feedback received.

Exceeding Guest Expectations: It's complicated. Should we always be striving to deliver experiences that exceed guest expectations?

We're deep into hockey's Stanley Cup Finals and in honor of North America's oldest team sport trophy being contested, our newest episode of Feedback Matters gets into the story of how a hockey metric inspired us to rethink how we use and visualize guest loyalty data.

A recent story and Tweet by New Jersey News Channel 12 about a business owner who fires back at people leaving him negative online reviews got us talking about how the it's still the wild west out there in the world of online reviews- a topic we first addressed 15 years ago.

The 2016 US presidential election saw the majority of American voters consuming news on social media, particularly Facebook, where they were algorithmically exposed to content based on their past preferences, likes, shares and web history. The result was that users saw and heard more of what they wanted to see and hear in the past, which may have affected the outcome of the election. From a business perspective, it is important to understand the perspective of all customers, whether favorable or not. Business managers should be proactive in gathering feedback across a spectrum of sources in order to make better-informed decisions.

Combatting fake online reviews-- again. We've been railing about this topic since...well, since online reviews became a thing. Read our latest take here.