102 - Using AI for Hotel Photos
I tried ChatGPT images for hotel room photos, because everyone else was doing Studio Ghibli stuff. Plus other news how marketing and luxury are using AI.
Hello,
Studio Ghibli images are fun - but seriously - there are dozens of other cartoon styles we can use. A friend of mine use ChatGPT to redecorate his living room. Others made Van Gogh images of themselves. I wanted to see if we could use it create marketing assets in hotel rooms. See the column below.
Best, Martin
Sponsored by Klairhaus. Support the newsletter, treat someone to great office gadgets.
AI is here, we need more humans
The best-case scenario for AI in hospitality is that we free up a lot of people who can focus on real engagements with guests. Get away from behind the screens and the processes and actually care for guests. The worst case is that there will no longer be people in the hotel (other than housekeeping and maintenance) and everything will automated through voice, and digital interfaces. Both scenarios will probably evolve, and the market will tell which one is preferred (even if people will put up with a lot if the price is low).
HOSPITALITY WORKPLACE FUTURE
AI Models at H&M
H&M is testing AI models based on existing models. Of course there are all kinds of concerns about that. However as I mentioned in my column below - AI will multiply the content created and make it more tailored for various use cases. As the saying goes, AI won’t replace your job, but someone with AI will. In this case - a model with a digital clone per brand might make a lot more money than one who needs to travel everywhere. Or as a Simone Puorto said, humans become the future luxury.
FUTURE OF THE RUNWAY
About me: I'm a fractional CMO for large travel technology companies helping turn them into industry leaders. I'm also the co-founder of 10minutes.news a hotel news media that is unsensational, factual and keeps hoteliers updated on the industry. Forecasting revenue
Most of the time we (our minds included) worked on forecasting the future based on past data. But COVID was a problem. The Paris Olympics was not as much a problem as it was people refusing to look at past data. On the other hand recent concerts have brought a whole new type of reservations. Someone I was working with was telling me they don’t forecast based on historical data but based on outside factors. So does the past still matter?
HOTEL INDUSTRY DYNAMICS FORECASTING
Loyalty and personalization
The first step in creating loyalty, and arguably the one that is most frequently missed outside of specific luxury hotels, is recognition. What I mean is recognizing the guest, recognizing them because they’ve been there before or recognizing them because you’ve checked out their public profiles online. Or simply recognizing that it is their first time at the hotel. Or recognizing that they like to play board games. Do that and you have won the main part of the battle. Personalization is another way of putting it, but less specific.
PERSONALIZATION HOSPITALITY
Micro-software for hotels
There’s a theory that the future of tech is going to be everyone building their own tech using AI and plugging it to a database. Some people believe it is the end of software as a service. While there is a possibility that this is the case, it doesn’t seem to be the way history has gone. Google ads were ment to be direct to business, we now have more ad-agencies than we ever had. Managing corporate social media was meant to be a direct channel for businesses to customers, we now have more agencies doing that too. We have specialized more than ever in history. So I’m not sure about the prophecy. But more people will make software.
SAAS HOSPITALITY PINGOTEL
Dior’s Infomercial Parody
Dior has launched a new campaign for its D-Journey Bag, featuring Rosamund Pike in a parody of infomercials. The campaign emphasizes the challenge of finding the perfect bag and showcases the versatility of the D-Journey Bag. Luxury marketing and comedy aren’t a common mix. I’m not sure they mix so well, but maybe coming from Rosamund Pike it works?
LUXURY MARKETING DIOR
Podcast: I was invited on the Hospitality Daily Podcast and spoke about technology in hospitality, some thoughts on what wont change in hospitality, and why I co-founded 10minutes.news. Best, MartinOpinion
AI as your Hotel Photographer
For years, hotels have invested thousands on professional photography. One shot of the room empty. Another with a towel folded into a swan. Maybe one more with some mood lighting. But once the shoot is done, that’s it. Until now.
With the recent updates to ChatGPT’s image tools, something remarkable has happened: your existing photography becomes the base for a lot more image assets. Want a version of the same room as a romantic honeymoon setup? Done. Want it staged for a birthday, a corporate group, a family with kids? Done. Want your client’s company logo on the TV for that room block email campaign? You get the idea.
This isn’t about some long term vision of “What will AI bring to hospitality”. This is live now—and it changes how hotels should think about creating assets for their marketing. You can now generate dozens of variations from a single photo, all on brand, all contextual to the season, event, or guest interests. And this isn’t just social media assets. Imagine using it in pre-arrival emails, email marketing, even upselling campaigns. A “Here’s your suite, set up just for your anniversary”+ anniversary package upgrade is going to more relevant than just a call to action.
Better still: pair that AI-generated still with a five-second video loop—a simple pan across the room or a walk-through. Suddenly, you’ve got something that feels produced, without needing a full production crew.
This may sound like a job-killer for photographers or designers. It’s not. It’s a job-changer. Hotels will still need original, high-quality photos. But from there, the AI becomes a creative multiplier. What you used to get in one version, you now get in ten—each with a story to tell. Creative photographers will provide the quality source content and marketing teams will be able to vary it in dozens and dozens of ways.
The real win here is specificity. Instead of shouting “romantic honey moon package,” you can show it—with a visual built just for that room, with that view. It’s marketing, leveled up.
Hotels, this is the part where you move fast. Grab your existing library, open ChatGPT, and start creating for Easter, wedding season, summer, or the corporate retreats you’re pitching.
And it’s here right now. No you don’t need to turn your hotel room into a Studio Ghibli art.
Great breakdown, Martin. The photo-to-marketing-asset pipeline you describe is exactly where we're seeing the most traction in hospitality. The 5-second video loop idea is spot on. At Strana we've also seen hotels take it further: using their existing photography as the starting point for full cinematic clips (10-60s) with AI generation plus human creative direction. The Expedia 'Science of Wanderlust' study found those converted clips significantly outperform the original stills for booking influence. The key insight you hit on is that AI is a creative multiplier, not a replacement. The hotels getting the best results still have human creative directors guiding the output so it doesn't fall into the 'obviously AI' uncanny valley that travelers now recognize and distrust.