At the Beurs van Berlage, over 300 hotel executives recently voted for a clear line during the Hotel Leaders Network (HLN): artificial intelligence does not replace hospitality, but it is increasingly determining whether a guest enters the building at all. This is evident from an analysis by Stef Driessen, sector banker for leisure at ABN AMRO.
The HLN Startup Pitch is a regular feature of the annual event: innovative startups present new market insights and practical solutions to hotel industry challenges directly to CEOs and general managers in the sector. The clear winner of this pitch was Roamed, a young Dutch startup focusing on AI-powered telephony for hotels.
This isn't a random choice. Despite apps, portals, and self-service, a substantial portion of hotel reservations are still made by phone. According to figures from the industry association HOTREC, this happens 13,8 percent of the time for German guests; for French and American guests, the percentage is consistently higher. For larger hotels, this translates to thousands of phone calls per year, each with a specific question, concern, or booking intention. Yet, telephony is often still treated as a side issue. And that's precisely the crux of the matter.
The hidden impact of waiting times
A large proportion of incoming calls do not concern complex service issues, but rather recurring and predictable topics. Roamed's pilots show that 42 percent of all calls relate to reservations, such as new bookings, changes, upgrades, and billing. The remaining call traffic primarily concerns practical questions such as parking, check-in times, Wi-Fi, and cancellation policies. It is not surprising that guests prefer to call for these matters. According to the Hotel 2025 Study by Oracle and Skift, speaking is the most intuitive form of communication: guests do not need to understand systems, but ask their questions just as they would to an employee on-site.
At the same time, there's a risk. Roamed sees a clear correlation between wait times and conversion loss, as callers abandon their booking before they can make a booking. It's striking that more than a third of booking calls (38 percent) come in outside office hours, when phone availability is often limited. When these calls aren't answered immediately, the risk of frustration and abandonment demonstrably increases.
Soon it won't be the guest who calls, but their digital assistant
For hotels, this means that phone accessibility is no longer just an operational issue, but a strategic channel. Increasingly, this channel is being supported—or even taken over—by AI-powered telephony. The question for hoteliers is therefore not whether technology will play a role in phone accessibility, but how they will shape that role themselves.
The rapid pace of this development was recently demonstrated by Alexander Klöpping on the TV program (of) Eva (Jinek) on February 3rd. He showed an AI agent that not only answers but acts independently: opening apps, filling out forms, and even calling companies on its own initiative when the software deems it relevant. Consumers no longer use digital assistants simply to request information, but to completely delegate tasks. When guests use their own AI to check terms and conditions or verify availability, the number of contact moments with hotels will increase rather than decrease. The barrier to contact will be lowered, not higher.
Not a technology project, but a leadership choice
For hoteliers, responding to the development of AI agents isn't a technological afterthought, but a strategic choice. This realization is well-established within the sector. Prior to the event, ABN AMRO conducted a representative survey among attendees. The survey revealed that 68 percent cited technology and digitalization as the most important form of support for their business operations. Marketing and direct bookings followed at 32 percent.
It's precisely at this intersection that voice AI touches on the core of the challenge. Technology that processes standard questions reduces pressure on reception and prevents direct bookings from being lost due to unanswered calls. Those who wait risk spending increasing amounts of time on repeat questions, while digital guest assistants operate faster and more scalably. Hospitality remains human work, but accessibility and speed are increasingly determined by technology. The question for hoteliers, therefore, is not whether AI will have a role in the hotel, but whether they will shape that role themselves – or leave it to their guests' digital assistants.
More information: abnamro.nl