Outlook for 2025: The Rise of Adaptive Personalisation

As the new year unfolds, a new concept hospitality firms should increasingly need to embrace is adaptive personalisation – that is, the flexible blending of data-driven hyper-personalization tools with traditional personalization efforts based on human interaction.

We at RLA Global are convinced that adaptive personalisation – a term our team has coined – is set to play an increasingly important role as it allows hotels and other industry players to shift dynamically between high-tech and high-touch approaches, depending on context and what stage the customer is in their guest journey. It can provide a meaningful and intelligent way to provide seamless customer experiences and deliver exactly what the customer needs and when they need it.

Next-generation digital technologies, like generative artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and predictive analytics, have radically changed hospitality strategies over a span of a mere few years. While human interactions are clearly not threatened with extinction, it is the right time to emphasize their continued significance in customer-facing hotel operations.

In this article we look at why personalization is essential in hospitality, examine traditional and hyper-personalization opportunities throughout the guest journey and discuss how adaptive personalisation can combining human interactions with the latest tech tools.

Hotels can’t afford neglecting guest preferences

Personalized services and experiences tailored to customer preferences have never been more important in hospitality. About 61% of customers are willing to spend more with companies if they offer a personalized experience, but just 23% feel they received highly personalized services during recent hotel stays, according to a survey by experience management software firm Medallia.

Most hoteliers are well aware of this gap. As many as 92% recognize that personalization is key in improving guest experiences and 85% believe that personalization could help them deliver a more than 5% growth in incremental revenue, global distribution system operator Amadeus said in a report.

It is also telling that personalized marketing can cut customer acquisition costs by up to 50%, increase revenues by 5% to 15%, and boost return on investment in marketing by 10% to 30%, McKinsey has found. Firms that grow faster derive 40% more of their revenues from personalization that their slower-growing peers. It is safe to say that hotels can’t afford neglecting these growth opportunities.

Technology propels personalization to new heights

Traditional personalization strategies rely on customer insights that are generated from past data from previous interactions. These standard efforts also tend to categorize customers in rather wide segments or cohorts mostly based on general demographic information or past transactions and behaviours.

But such approaches are increasingly overshadowed by hyper-personalization, which uses advanced technology, such as AI, ML and predictive analytics. It processes real-time data to create relevant and timely insights about individual guest preferences, and can ultimately boost guest satisfaction.

Revolutionizing personalization with high-tech tools is already a key trend in hospitality in 2025 and could potentially become an industry standard. But combining these solutions with human interactions and focus in a meaningful way could unlock even bigger value both for guests and market players.

Opportunities abound along the hotel guest journey

But what does this all mean in practice? In the following sections we look at why hyper-personalization and human focus should complement each other in key stages of the hotel guest journey.

Research and booking are usually the first steps for prospective new customers in the pre-arrival stage of the guest journey. Accommodation portals and hotel operators have worked for years to leverage AI to personalize recommendations and expand search capabilities.

In recent examples, Marriott started to test an AI-driven free-text search tool for vacation rentals offered by its Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy brand in March 2024, and US-based Karisma Resorts licensed an AI platform from Argentinian tech firm Despegar in October 2024 to enhance its chatbot capabilities to handle reservations and manage guest preferences.

In another example, Hilton uses predictive analytics to anticipate the needs of its return guests even before they arrive, using data from previous stays, dining preferences and even social media behaviour. It has seen a 15% rise in ancillary revenue from upselling services, such as spa treatments and room upgrades, by using predictive analytics, consulting firm Renascence said.

These examples reiterate that advanced technology is essential for hyper-personalization, but hotels shouldn’t overlook the power of human interactions. SiteMinder found in a 2024 survey that 52% of travellers reported abandoning an online hotel booking due to poor user experience, with abandonment the highest among GenZ and Millennial users, at a whopping 70% and 61%, respectively.

Human touch appears to be more important at the beginning of a travel journey, at the booking stage, according to a 2025 study in the International Journal of Hospitality Management. Interviewees for the study said that human employees are helpful at this stage to provide useful information so that “more personally relevant decisions can be made”.

Stay offers the biggest opportunity for hotels to maximize personalization. Medallia found in its survey that just 46% of customers could recall personalization elements from their actual hotel stay, the lowest number in any stage of the guest journey.

Many operators rely on technology to allow guests to customize their in-room features and services during their stay. Often used tools include AI chatbots and digital concierges, which can handle various tasks and requests. Rose, the 24/7 digital concierge at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, can receive requests in text messages, on Facebook Messenger or on the hotel’s website for fresh towels, dinner recommendations, reservations at special events or show tickets.

Hilton guests can use their Hilton Honors app to adjust lighting, room temperature or TV entertainment as part of the chain’s Connected Rooms programme. The company launched new content partnerships in January 2025 with Peloton to provide on-demand fitness classes and with Calm to offer guided meditations or mindfulness exercises on in-room TVs.

Yet, it is still very important that human staff remain available to handle more complex or special requests. Regent Experience Agents, acting as single points of contact for customers at the Regent Hong Kong hotel, reach out to guests before their arrival and handle all issues and requests related to services, amenities and special arrangements. They also curate bespoke experiences in the hotel and around Hong Kong and take care of each visitor individually through the entire guest journey.

After stay may be the last stage of the guest journey, but it is an equally important part of a guest experience in terms of personalization. In fact, one of the most noticed personalization elements of the guest journey is providing customers with the opportunity to give feedback about the services they received – 66% could recall this in Medallia’s survey.

The Ritz-Carlton, for example, uses various channels to collect guest feedback, including post-stay surveys, in-person comments and digital platforms, according to Renascence. Feedback is then analyzed to identify areas for improvement and guest input regarding room amenities or dining options, for instance, can lead to changes in product offerings or service delivery.

Marriott regularly surveys Marriott Bonvoy loyalty programme members to collect information on their experiences and preferences, and use this to make data-driven decisions about enhancements in the programme. For example, the chain has introduced more flexible points redemption options and added new partnership benefits based on member feedback.

But allowing guests to pick whether they want to settle potential problems or issues online, over the phone or in person is high on customers’ personalization wish list for hotels, Medallia’s survey results how. Providing this choice was among the top five answers to the question on what hotels should do to better personalize interactions, with 21% of respondents selecting this answer.

All in all, while 78% of travellers are open to using AI tools globally during the planning, booking and experiencing stages of their 2025 hotel stays, 33% and 31% would never want machines to handle check-in and concierge or room services, according to the results of the SiteMinder survey. Only 12% would support technology managing all key hotel functions in 2025.

Talk to your customers to know them better

The previous examples could demonstrate that it is vital to be able to find the right balance between technology and human focus when it comes to personalization. Operators should properly combine data-driven tech solutions with in-person interactions not only to enhance guest experience, but to make their products competitive, truly valuable and ‘future-proof’ in the longer term.

Embracing adaptive personalization to meet individual guest preferences and create seamless and memorable experiences requires hospitality operators to know their customers well. Understanding what drives customers and acquiring in-depth knowledge about their needs, preferences and expectations on an intimate level is a must for operators to be able to offer tailored services.

In addition to collecting and processing digital customer data, actually talking and listening to guests at check-in, at breakfast or any other touchpoints through their customer journey should be the easiest way to acquire such knowledge. Hotels have a plenty of opportunities to do this – but it is still not commonplace, for example, for senior staff members to talk with guests in person in the lobby or during cocktail hours, to introduce themselves and create a clientele based on these interactions.

Hotels have made their relationship with guests a transaction, having forgotten that in the end of the day they should have a relationship with the guest on an intimate level. Time has become extremely precious for customers and they increasingly make choices about what hotels they stay at based on how valued they feel and whether the hotel made efforts to get to know their needs at all.

Making the case for adaptive personalisation

In summary, technology solutions, such as AI, will undoubtedly be an indispensable tool for hotels aiming to get a 360-degree picture of each individual guest, but we believe they would work best when complemented with a human touch just at the right time and just when the guests need it.

This supports our general notion that the concept of adaptive personalization should and will become an important trend already from this year. It can be a suitable approach both for hotel operators with pragmatic views about fast-evolving technology developments as well as for high-tech pioneers looking to launch the latest innovations.