Ep 190: AI, OTAs, Payments & Ancillary Revenues for Independent Hotels, with Vikram Malhi, Zuzu Hospitality

“AI will fundamentally change the way people travel, the way OTAs work and how hotels have to adapt. We are still in the very early stages.”

Golden Week is behind us, and travel players are looking ahead to hotel bookings, rates and revenues for the end-of-year tourism season and Lunar New Year.

So it’s a great time for Gary and Hannah to welcome Vikram Malhi, Founder and CEO of Singapore-based Zuzu Hospitality to the show. Vikram worked for leading OTAs before setting up his own company, which supports independent hotels to manage all aspects related to payments, revenues and online distribution.

We discuss the hotel sector rebound in key markets like Bangkok, Phuket, Jakarta and Bali. And, we assess the outlook for Chinese tourism into South East Asia, and the impressive expansion of India’s outbound market.

Plus, we tackle the next phase of development of AI solutions for OTAs and hotels, and the ongoing resource challenges across the hospitality industry. Finally, as we move towards wrapping up 2023, what might be some of the key industry trends in 2024?