What I Took Away From the ITH Innovation Summit 2026 on AI and Tourism

On June 9th and 10th I took part in the ITH Innovation Summit 2026, the annual event organised by the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero in Madrid to discuss the future of the tourism sector. It took place at Espacio La Salle by Eneldo, and I shared the stage with Andy Stalman in a session called "Present and Future: Two Generations Facing Change."

The Event

Every edition of the ITH Innovation Summit brings together people from the hotel and tourism industry to discuss where the sector is heading: technology, data, talent, new business models. This edition had a strong focus on artificial intelligence applied to hospitality: not as an abstract trend, but as something already changing how hotels are managed, how guest experience gets personalised, and how decisions get made within organisations in the sector.

The Session: Two Generations Facing Change

The interesting part of the session was the format itself: sharing the stage with Andy Stalman, from a different generation, with a different career path, to talk about the same topic from two distinct angles. We weren't competing to be right; each of us brought a perspective the other was missing. That mix is, to me, exactly what organisations need when they talk about transformation: not a single voice, but several generations discussing the same problem together.

What I Said About AI as a Complement, Not a Replacement

My core message was that technology is becoming an increasingly everyday element (almost more of a commodity than a luxury), and that precisely because of that, hotels should focus their efforts on building memorable experiences and strengthening their brand, not on competing over who has the most advanced AI. AI, used well, complements the human element: it lets you "optimise" processes and "predict" needs to achieve much more intense personalisation, but it doesn't replace what makes a stay memorable.

What I'm Taking Away

Every time I talk about AI in a sector that isn't my default one (this time tourism, other times retail or pharma), I confirm the same idea: the principles don't change as much as the context does. What changes is how they're applied. And that translation, from general principle to concrete application in each industry, is the part of the work I enjoy most.

Thanks to the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero for the invitation, and to everyone who came up afterwards to keep the conversation going.

External Verification

• The official ITH Innovation Summit programme lists the session and presents Felipe Stalman as an AI and Gen Z specialist.
• El Diario de Madrid's event report summarises his contribution on technology, memorable experiences and brand recall in hospitality.

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