91% of Hotel Chains Use AI. Only 13% Can Show ROI.

Ninety-one percent of hotel chains use AI in everyday work, but only 13% can show measurable ROI. That is the headline gap in h2c GmbH’s 2026 AI Opportunity Study, summarized on Hospitality Net in contributed content from sponsor Cendyn. The study drew 122 responses from 113 hotel chains representing more than 8,200 properties and about 1.3 million rooms.

The reason for the gap shows up in the strategy numbers. Only 28% of chains have a company-wide AI strategy led by senior leadership. Without one, AI shows up as a collection of individual tools — a messaging bot here, a pricing assistant there — with no shared owner, no shared data and no agreed measure of what success means. Tools that nobody is accountable for do not move GOPPAR, flow-through or labor cost percentage, so the 13% figure is what you would expect.

The second gap matters for direct booking. About 70% of chains expect AI-driven booking channels to increase direct booking volume over the next one to two years. Yet only 22% systematically monitor their visibility in AI-generated search and recommendations. Operators are forecasting upside from a channel they are not measuring, which means they cannot tell whether their rates, content and availability are being surfaced or skipped.

For an owner or asset manager, the practical read is a short checklist. Name one senior executive accountable for AI results. Pick two or three operating metrics, such as labor hours per occupied room or direct share of bookings, and baseline them before the next tool is switched on. Then start checking how the property appears when a guest asks an AI assistant for a hotel in your market.

One caution on the source: this is vendor-contributed content, and the sample is chains rather than independents. As a benchmark of where larger groups stand, though, 91% adoption against 13% proven return is a clear signal that the work now is measurement, not more pilots.