Hotels are beginning to use AI in very practical areas: AI applications across hospitality operations, including guest communication, staff support, revenue decisions, content, forecasting, service workflows and internal knowledge. Oracle, for example, introduced new AI capabilities into OPERA Cloud in 2026 to help hotel associates with room assignment, rate descriptions and operational questions. Oracle’s 2026 OPERA Cloud announcement gives a useful real world example.

This does not mean every hotel is looking for a machine learning scientist. There is a growing need for people who can understand a hotel process, identify where automation makes sense, work with technology teams and make sure the tool actually works for the people using it.

Hotels generate huge amounts of data from bookings, rates, guest feedback, loyalty, F&B, labour, distribution and operations. I have also covered the hotel information systems and their operational role, because that is where much of this data originates. The challenge is not collecting it. The challenge is turning it into something a hotel manager can actually use.

That is where data and BI professionals come in. Current hospitality technology roles include data operations, analytics and business intelligence, while major hotel groups are also hiring technology professionals who can work across business and data teams. Marriott, for example, currently lists roles spanning AI and data and digital analytics.

Hotels hold payment information, identity documents, loyalty data, booking records and personal guest information. They also run networks, PMS, POS, Wi Fi and many third party systems. Cybersecurity is therefore not just an IT department issue anymore.

Hotel groups are building dedicated security, risk and data protection capabilities, while technology forward security roles increasingly work alongside hotel operations and engineering. Marriott’s current careers site, for example, shows dedicated security and loss prevention roles alongside its wider technology organisation.

See my detailed guide to cybersecurity across hotel operations.

This is still one of the most practical technology careers in hospitality. If you are starting from the hotel IT side, my guide to hotel IT infrastructure and systems is a useful starting point. A hotel needs people who can keep the PMS, POS, networks, devices, applications and property technology running without making the guest feel that there is a technology problem in the first place.

Current hotel vacancies show just how broad the role has become. Accor’s current technology strategy spans cloud based PMS and POS, guest technology, cybersecurity, customer data protection and AI, while its careers operation covers a wide range of hospitality and corporate roles. Accor current Tech & Digital vacancies is a useful example.

Revenue management has always been a numbers driven part of hotel management. My guide to revenue management technology in hotels goes deeper into the technology behind these decisions. What has changed is the amount of data and technology behind the decisions. Modern revenue teams work with RMS platforms, forecasting tools, market data and increasingly AI assisted pricing.

If you already understand hotel revenue, this is an especially interesting technology adjacent career. You do not have to become a software engineer. You need to become very good at understanding the business problem and the technology supporting it.

For the fundamentals, see my guide to revenue management technology in hotels.

This is one of the areas I find particularly interesting because it sits right between hospitality and technology. Hotel technology companies need people who understand what a hotel actually needs, not just people who can write a product specification.

A good hospitality technology product manager can talk to hotel operators in the morning, work with engineers in the afternoon and still understand whether the feature will improve revenue, efficiency or guest experience.

A hotel rarely uses one technology system. That is why understanding the wider the hotel management software ecosystem is useful before specialising. PMS, CRS, channel manager, booking engine, CRM, POS, payment gateway, revenue system and other tools all need to exchange information. That creates a large need for people who understand integrations and connectivity.

You can build this career on the technical side, but hospitality knowledge is a real advantage. Understanding why a reservation, rate, room status or guest profile needs to move between systems is often as important as understanding the API itself.

Hospitality technology is moving further into cloud based systems. That means hotels and technology providers need people who understand infrastructure, reliability, access, backups, monitoring and security.

The opportunity is particularly strong with hotel technology companies and large hospitality groups where one platform may support hundreds or thousands of properties. It is less about sitting in a hotel fixing one computer and more about keeping a technology environment reliable at scale.

Hotels compete for bookings across their own websites, OTAs, metasearch, loyalty platforms and other digital channels. This sits closely with the wider technology trends shaping hospitality in 2026. Technology has changed the job from simply maintaining a website to managing a connected digital commercial ecosystem.

People who understand hotel distribution and can also work with analytics, booking engines, digital merchandising and technology platforms are increasingly valuable.

This is where hospitality experience and technology can come together beautifully. It also connects closely with the hospitality career paths across departments available today. Mobile check in, digital concierge, messaging, service requests, guest personalisation and connected room technology all need people who understand the guest rather than looking only at the software.

The best people in this space are not necessarily the most technical people in the room. They understand what guests want, what hotel teams can realistically deliver and where technology can remove friction without removing the human side of hospitality.