The research reflects input from professionals in executive leadership,
finance and operations roles. According to the findings, hoteliers recognise
significant opportunity in AI applications that improve accuracy, enhance
visibility and support financial performance oversight.
Familiarity with AI technologies is described as widespread, with overall
sentiment toward their potential remaining positive. However, respondents
emphasised that in high-accountability environments such as accounting and
labor management, AI implementation must be transparent, supported by oversight
and clearly embedded within existing workflows.
“In hospitality, AI is not about replacing expertise; it’s about elevating it,” said John Erhart, CEO and Founder of Inn-Flow. “Hotel leaders are actively exploring how AI can reduce repetitive work, surface insight earlier, and improve decision-making. What matters most is that the technology reflects the realities of hotel operations and keeps people accountable for outcomes.”
According to the study, the highest-value AI applications in the hotel back
office include reducing manual and repetitive tasks such as invoice processing
and transaction review, improving forecasting and planning, flagging anomalies
at earlier stages and strengthening data integrity and consistency.
Respondents did not prioritise fully autonomous financial workflows.
Instead, they favoured AI solutions that function as a secondary review layer,
accelerating reporting processes, enhancing accuracy and enabling earlier
intervention when performance deviates from plan.
The research also highlights potential margin implications linked to
practical AI adoption. By streamlining routine processes and surfacing
financial insight earlier, hotel teams can operate more efficiently, align
labour deployment with demand patterns and support long-term profitability
management.
“AI in the hotel back office works best when it’s purpose-built for
hospitality,” Erhart added. “The nuance of hotel accounting and labor management matters.
Successful implementation requires solutions that understand the operational
environment, support review-first processes, and reinforce trust in the
numbers.”
Inn-Flow stated that its AI roadmap reflects these findings, focusing on
human-supported, reviewable AI capabilities embedded directly within
accounting, bookkeeping and labor workflows designed for hotel operators.
Tags: John Erhart, Inn-Flow