Inntelo AI has signed a partnership with Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) to deploy AI agents across the association's websites, media titles and events, a deal that matters to association and institute professionals as member service moves to AI agents answering enquiries in more than 50 languages.

HFTP is a global industry association with 83 chapters across 46 countries and about 100,000 opt-in media subscribers. Its Hospitality AI Collective brings together more than 30 AI specialists to develop education, standards and best practice.

Inntelo AI is a hospitality technology company developing AI agents that automate interactions between hotels and guests, deployed across more than 30,000 hotel rooms in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and North America. Financial details are not publicly disclosed.

Frank Wolfe, chief executive of HFTP, said, "We chose Inntelo AI because the team comes from inside the industry and has proven the technology in working hotels."

Asif Alidina, co-founder and CEO of Inntelo AI, said, "Hospitality will always stay human first, and any AI we adopt must be designed from within the industry."

The deal reflects a shift from associations discussing AI to operating it in front of members.

An h2c study found that 91 per cent of hotel chains already use AI, while hotels remain cautious about letting AI decide independently in guest interactions, according to Hotel News Resource. Only 28 per cent have a company wide strategy led by senior leadership, according to Travel Daily News.

For the sector, an association deploying a vendor's agents across its own website, media and flagship event gives members a live test of the technology and a basis for judging it on results. For the sector's other membership bodies specifically, handling enquiries in dozens of languages without adding headcount is a practical model for international memberships.

The arrangement also tests credibility: a body that sets AI standards through its Collective now depends on a single vendor's agents for member service.

Whether other associations follow with comparable deployments, rather than limiting AI to advisory programmes, will indicate how far member service is being automated across the sector.

Source: UKTN / Hotel News Resource / Travel Daily News