STAAH, the hotel distribution technology supplier owned by The Access Group, has published a report on technology and artificial intelligence use in Asia Pacific hospitality. The release carried a Mumbai dateline of 5 October 2026. The report is titled Hidden Potential: The State of Technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Adoption in Hospitality.

Its central finding is that operators in the region see the value of AI but are held back by disconnected systems, manual processes and growing operational complexity. The research surveyed hospitality leaders in Australia, India, Indonesia and the wider Asia Pacific region, and also draws on a consumer survey.

The headline numbers

  • 95% of hospitality leaders agree that integrated technology could help them scale their business.
  • Many leaders report losing up to two hours a day switching between systems.
  • 74% of consumers surveyed say technology has already improved their hospitality experiences.

The report says teams responsible for bookings, revenue, housekeeping and guest communication are strained by working across several systems that do not share data. On the guest side, it says consumers are increasingly comfortable with AI in areas such as faster service and personalised recommendations.

Louise Daley, head of hospitality for Asia Pacific at The Access Group, said: “AI is no longer a future concept. It is here now”. She also said the value of technology in hospitality lies in supporting the human side of service, not replacing it.

What the published material leaves out

The press material and the trade reports THD read do not state how many leaders or consumers were surveyed, when the fieldwork took place, who conducted it, or how the results differ between Australia, India and Indonesia. The phrase “many leaders” for the two hour finding is not quantified.

The full report is available from STAAH’s website in exchange for contact details. The download page describes it as covering how hospitality businesses in the region use AI, where disconnected systems cost time and revenue, and benchmarks against hotels and food and beverage operators. THD has not reviewed the full document.

Readers should also note the source. STAAH sells channel management, booking engine and related software, and its parent sells a wider hospitality suite. A finding that integrated technology helps hotels grow supports the commercial case both companies make to operators.

Why it matters for hotels in India and the region

THD context: a small or mid-sized hotel in India or South East Asia may run a PMS, a channel manager, a booking engine, a point of sale system and a messaging tool from five different suppliers. Each login is a separate task and data is often re-keyed by hand. AI tools that depend on clean, connected data deliver little in that setting.

TravelDailyNews Asia reported the release on 6 October.

THD’s reading

  • THD analysis: Treat the figures as directional. Without a sample size or country split, the 95% and 74% results cannot be compared with other surveys or applied to a single market.
  • THD analysis: The two hour claim is the one operators can test themselves. Timing how long front office and reservations staff spend moving between systems for one week gives a property its own number and a basis for any business case.
  • THD analysis: For owners, the order of work matters. Fixing integrations between PMS, channel manager and POS comes before paying for AI features, because those features rely on the same data.
  • THD analysis: Suppliers selling into India and Indonesia should expect buyers to ask for proven, certified connections to the systems they already run, not a promise of a single suite.