Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the travel industry’s newest obsession. Airlines and hotel chains are spending more than ever to modernize operations and improve efficiency. But according to new research, much of that investment still isn’t reaching the traveler.

Amperity’s 2025 State of AI for Hotels & Airlines paints a picture of high enthusiasm and low readiness: 96 percent of companies plan to maintain or increase AI spending this year, yet only 12 percent feel strongly that they’re prepared to deploy it at scale. Just 35 percent are using AI in guest-facing experiences. The rest are still experimenting quietly behind the scenes.

“AI adoption varies widely across the industry,” Amperity CEO Tony Owens told Newsweek. “Our survey found that most hotels and airlines use AI in some way, but very few are ready to use these tools on a larger scale. The first roadblock is poor integration between systems. When data is scattered, it’s harder and more expensive to access and understand.”

That fragmentation, he said, is what keeps AI confined to the back office. “The best way to overcome this is to invest in connecting, organizing and cleaning customer data, laying the foundation for AI to deliver more effective, scalable results.”

The data shows a mismatch between optimism and application. More than half of travel executives believe AI will improve customer loyalty, but few have moved it beyond marketing automation or analytics dashboards.

Owens called that hesitancy predictable, and costly. “A big part of that hesitation boils down to trust, readiness and the foundation needed to use AI effectively,” he said. “For many brands, customer data is not yet clean, connected, or easy to access, which makes it difficult to use AI effectively.”

Most companies are starting small, applying AI to segmentation or support workflows rather than the traveler experience itself. “This hesitancy makes sense in an industry where brand trust and guest experience matter most,” Owens said. “As data improves and teams become accustomed to the technology, AI will become an increasingly significant part of the customer journey.”

The question is whether “eventually” will come soon enough for a sector defined by customer loyalty.

American Airlines, for instance, is moving AI beyond its operational core and into the customer experience.

“At American, we’re integrating AI across the customer journey to make travel planning more intuitive and empowering by enhancing our digital self-service, delivering intuitive tools and meeting travelers on their preferred channels,” Heather Garboden, American’s chief customer officer, told Newsweek via email.

“We’re currently testing a GenAI-powered tool across our website and mobile app that helps customers discover destinations based on the experiences they seek, shaping the future of how we inspire travel. We are looking to use AI to inspire and personalize travel, not just streamline it.”

The company recently detailed this initiative as part of its broader innovation roadmap, which includes GenAI-based trip planning, intelligent self-service and new digital concierge tools aimed at simplifying travel and deepening personalization.

That focus, using AI to inspire travel rather than merely optimize it, offers a glimpse of how airlines could begin investing where it truly counts: the traveler’s experience, not just the systems behind it.

Owens argues that the real opportunity lies in the emotional core of travel, those fleeting but decisive interactions that determine whether a guest feels recognized or forgotten.

“Leaders have a real chance to make an impact by focusing resources on the moments that shape how travelers feel, such as booking, check-in, personal touches during the stay, and follow-up after the trip,” he said. “Using AI in these areas is more than just improving sales; it’s about providing better service and fostering lasting relationships.”

The numbers back him up.

Companies with a customer data platform (CDP) are five times more likely to have full AI adoption across business units (19 percent versus 4 percent) and twice as likely to use AI in guest-facing applications (50 percent versus 19 percent). The message: data maturity determines who actually benefits from AI.

“Fragmented, stale, or consent-uncertain data guarantees ‘garbage in, garbage out,’ which is why CDP-equipped teams adopt AI faster,” Owens said. “They’ve unified first-party identity, governed access, and keep profiles fresh enough for frontline decisions. Get the data right, and AI delivers.”

Derek Slager, Amperity’s co-founder and CTO, told Newsweek the real challenge isn’t willpower but wiring. Travel brands are drowning in data — reservations, loyalty programs, point-of-sale systems, apps, customer service logs — yet most of those systems were never designed to speak to one another.

“In travel, information lives in reservation platforms, loyalty programs, point-of-sale systems, mobile apps, email channels and even customer service logs,” Slager said. “Pulling all of that together into a single, accurate view of a guest requires not just connecting systems, but also cleaning, standardizing, and reconciling data to resolve identities.”

Only 31 percent of travel companies are using AI in production to resolve identities or prepare data for analytics, the foundation of personalization.

“Bringing that data together accurately requires not only integration but also cleaning, deduplication, and matching identities in a way that’s reliable enough to trust for AI-driven personalization,” Slager said.

With a strong CDP, that unification becomes possible. “A CDP removes the technical obstacles that can slow AI adoption, allowing teams to move from experiments to real, scalable customer impact,” he added.

Technology may be the easy part. The harder fix is cultural. Amperity’s report found that 36 percent of travel companies provide no formal AI training, an oversight that limits even the best infrastructure.

“When employees don’t receive proper training, it’s hard to get the most out of new technology, even if it’s the most advanced tools and AI available,” Slager said. “From a tech leadership perspective, putting resources into training is just as important as buying the right tools.”

Owens agreed that most failures stem from people, not code. “Most of the struggle isn’t the model itself, but rather the inputs and the underlying data it’s feeding off of,” he said. “Brands should invest in production-grade pipelines and enablement instead of one-off pilots.”

In other words, the next phase of AI progress may depend less on innovation and more on internal alignment, getting marketing, IT and operations to finally share the same definition of success.

If travel is still finding its footing, retail has already taken flight. Amperity’s earlier research found that 63 percent of retailers believe AI will help improve loyalty compared with just 53 percent in travel. The gap comes down to foundation.

“One of the biggest takeaways from the retail sector is that many of those brands have already built strong data foundations,” Owens said. “That foundation makes it easier to scale AI with confidence, which is why retailers are ahead in terms of loyalty and lifetime value.”

He added that travel companies often treat AI as a side project. “Many companies still view AI as an experimental expense, rather than an enabler of their growth strategy,” he said. “As a result, they overlook its potential impact. Brands that have fully adopted AI are using it to differentiate themselves from competitors. They can use AI to tailor guest experiences, build stronger customer loyalty, and run their operations more efficiently and effectively—and they’re the brands that are winning over customers in peak seasons or high-pressure moments.”

Slager believes the next major leap in travel will come when AI can respond to travelers in real time, not just automating offers but anticipating needs.

“Real-time personalization in travel is becoming possible thanks to three key developments,” he said. “Advanced customer data platforms bring together information from bookings, loyalty programs, support, and digital channels; event-driven systems help AI respond to guest signals in real time; and advanced machine learning models learn from every interaction.”

With those ingredients, he said, “hotels and airlines can shift from reacting to guests to anticipating their needs both proactively and in real time.”

Owens thinks the next 12 months will determine whether AI remains a back-office tool or becomes the industry’s defining differentiator.

“In a year, successful travel brands will be using AI to directly enhance the guest experience,” he said. “While most hotels and airlines recognize AI’s potential to enhance loyalty and lifetime value, only about a third are currently using it in customer-facing interactions.

Real progress will show more brands integrate AI throughout their organization to help deliver predictive, personalized offers, tailored communications and better analysis.”