RateGain has released the third edition of its industry benchmark, The State of Distribution 2026, developed with the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, its Hospitality Innovation Hub (HI Hub) Exchange, and HEDNA. The report was launched in Lisbon on 15 September 2026.

Scope

The research draws on more than 270 hotel brands and over 58,000 properties in 141 cities and 53 countries, offering a broad view of how hotel commercial teams are handling technology investment, AI, distribution complexity and changing traveler behavior.

Adoption ahead of impact

More than half of hotels now use or are procuring generative AI. Yet fewer than one in ten say it has cut their manual work by more than 30%. Most are seeing modest gains rather than a real change in how teams operate.

The report links this gap to more than tooling. Concerns over trust, data privacy and governance are capping how much autonomy hotels are willing to give AI: they are happy to use it for assistance but remain wary of letting it decide or act on its own. As a result, hotels are investing more in improving existing systems rather than adding new platforms. The authors describe a shift from "systems of record" that capture transactions to "systems of work" that help commercial teams interpret signals, coordinate decisions and act with confidence.

Key findings

• Commercial teams are more connected, but data is still fragmented. Marketing, sales, distribution and revenue management collaborate and review performance together more often, yet disconnected systems, scattered data and vendor fragmentation hold them back.
• Reporting is the industry's most persistent inefficiency and the clearest opportunity for AI-led automation. Over 80% of commercial teams still spend one to two days a week producing and analyzing reports manually, and fewer than 30% have invested in dedicated reporting tools.
• AI adoption is high but transformation is rare, with fewer than one in ten reporting reductions in manual work above 30%.

Why it matters

For hotel commercial leaders, the report suggests the next gains will come less from adopting additional AI tools and more from connecting data, automating reporting and building the governance needed to trust AI with more of the work.

Originally published by RateGain: RateGain's State of Distribution 2026: Over Half of Hotels Use AI, Under 10% See Real Impact