162 - Hallucinations are harder to spot
The rise of fakefographics. AI and the booking journey. Hotels know best. A model to analyse the media industry.
Hello,
I did a post this week about fake infographics that keep showing up. Some are even being copied and re-faked. I personally care a lot about infographics, and spend a lot of time working on how to visualize data. So here are some more thoughts about them.
PS: If you haven’t filled out my survey, I’d love to have your reader feedback.
Best, Martin
Pragmatik marketing agency turns hospitality SaaS
companies into highly visible market leaders.
Find out more ➛
Opinion
Hallucination are just harder to spot
There is a growing belief that AI has become accurate enough that we can largely trust what it produces. Compared to where we were only a couple of years ago, I almost agree. Models that once struggled to produce recognizable logos can now generate (relatively) convincing market maps within seconds. It really is one of the most remarkable technological advances we’ve seen.
But that’s exactly why we need to become more careful with what we trust.
Recently I asked AI to generate a market map of the largest hotel technology companies. It looks quite ok, but it is a hot mess once you actually scroll down the list.
To someone working in hotel tech, the mistakes are obvious. To someone outside the industry, however, it looks entirely believable. That’s where the real danger begins.
AI now makes mistakes that look professional, and based on the way generative AI is designed, these mistakes will look more and more professional. The better the presentation becomes, the harder it is to separate confidence from correctness.
In my post I suggested that people at least put the disclaimer that it isn’t real research but AI outputs. Reading the comments I guess I am being too optimistic. People who are chasing clicks aren’t going to voluntarily say it isn’t real.
The thing is in fields we know, we see these things quite rapidly. But in fields where we are not experts ourselves it is much more insidious. If I ask AI about hotel technology or marketing, I can usually spot the problems because I know the right answers. But if I ask about medicine or law, how would I know which parts are wrong? More importantly, how would I know which parts are almost right but still lead me to the wrong conclusion?
AI works on probabilities. It predicts the most likely answer based on patterns in data. Reality requires a constant stream of judgement. We humans are full of context, exceptions, trade-offs, and grey areas (yeah sometimes too much). But generative AI is designed to give patterns. It will take a lot work for AI to understand something like judgement. Judgement is the millions of shades of grey between absolutes. Computers work in absolutes.
That is the human skill we need to cultivate with ourselves, our teams, our kids and everyone we know. It always was. But with convincing “conclusion machines” in our pockets - we need to seriously up our game here.
Hallucinations haven’t disappeared. They’ve simply become much harder to spot.
AI and the Booking Journey
For years hotel marketing has been about winning the search results on Google and OTAs. AI is now introducing another discovery layer where recommendations are generated instead of searched for, forcing hotels to rethink how they present information online. Visibility is no longer just about ranking, it is about being understood by AI. The early birds will make more revenue (until everyone catches up).
AI BOOKING / LUXURY ADVANTAGE / BEAUTY BRANDS

About me: I'm a fractional CMO for large travel technology companies, and the co-founder of Pragmatik, a tech marketing agency that's all about results. You can find out more at wearepragmatik.com. Airbnb’s Hidden Costs
More people complaining about the distribution costs of Airbnb. Amazon has a ton of these hidden micro costs to sellers all over their system (I often think Amazon behaves like a government and their tax systems, you can chose to leave - but not really). In any case, I think rental owners and Amazon sellers could learn a lot from the hotel industry. No industry has more experience in e-commerce than hotels and travel.
AIRBNB COMMISSION / DIRECT BOOKINGS
AI Starts with Better Hotel Systems
Jeff Bzdawka knows a thing or two about hotel systems. His recent post is true. Some startups and tech companies have been saying this for the last few decades. Whatever the next big thing in tech is going to be - the data structure is what will permit hotels to benefit from it. Some have been listening, but it’s a minority. Plumbing isn’t exciting, but integration is often the real innovation.
HOTEL DATA / AI STRATEGY

Hermès’ Bold New Flagship
Not totally sure on the bold part. But luxury brands do remind us that physical spaces are powerful brand assets. Hermès’ latest London flagship is nice. Hospitality could borrow more inspiration from brands that make every square meter feel intentional. But some hotels actually do an excellent job here.
LUXURY RETAIL

Provenance as Luxury
Luxury brands like LVMH have shown that provenance creates value. Applying that thinking to heritage travel suggests destinations should sell their history, craftsmanship and authenticity rather than simply rooms or attractions. For destinations, yes. For hotels - I’m not convinced. I tried it in a few hotels - it didn’t work (but, maybe I did it wrong). My conclusion was that people don’t want to sleep in some famous dead painter’s room. They want a great bed, shower, service in a great location. The museums are outside.
HERITAGE VALUE
Amazon says Agentic Changes Ads
Amazon wants to sell ads. So they will say this. But they also like to be efficient. Their latest developments suggest brands will increasingly compete to become the recommendation inside AI conversations rather than simply the highest bidder on a search page. That could reshape digital marketing faster than many expect.
AGENTIC COMMERCE / WALMART TOO
Hotels That Recognize You
Because most PMS’ aren’t doing their job. Solutions like this need to be created. A system that works on solving “have you stayed with us before” through AI, digital keys and integrated guest data. It is stunning that today so many PMS solutions still aren’t doing a good job here. If it is easier to create a new profile in the system than to find the customer’s profile, design has failed.
GUEST EXPERIENCE

Where is Media Industry going?
One of the first industries that gets hit by new tech is media. Currently and historically. This is happening again. GenAI is going to disrupt media just like the internet did last time. But predictions and forecasts are a coin toss. It’s better to build a mental model so one can think with what is happening and build one’s own opinions of where things are going. As we all use media, it’s a good thing to understand.
MEDIA THINKING / AI JOURNALISTS
Humans also err on data
I complain about AI hallucinations in my column, but humans also make errors. Statistics interpreted with a bias. Sensationalism and click-bait headlines. Etc. Judgement applies here as well. My rule of thumb: “facts” that seem to indicate too clear a conclusion require deeper investigation.
GUNS VS AC
Where to start with hotel tech
I joined Josiah on the Hospitality Daily podcast and discussed a bit my take on hotel tech. Yes I’m deep into it and we all tend to view the world from our viewpoint. But there are at least 8 billion other viewpoints and none of them are the same. So here’s my take on where to start.
HOSPITALITY DAILY
Property Is Not the Product
Lily Wang’s perspective that a property is merely a means to an end is a reminder that hospitality is ultimately about people and experiences. Just like any company. The assets like stock, raw materials etc are often worth a lot less than the brand.
HOSPITALITY PURPOSE

Apple Wants to Own the Stay
Apple integrating hotel keys into their Wallet plus folio etc. Will be great for the guest. I’m not sure how many people want to download yet another hotel app. Hotels will resist, just like the car industry resisted CarPlay, but customers will demand it. Multiple apps that need constant updating, that get hacked etc isn’t great to the guest. Are these apps really generating that much in upsales?
APPLE WALLET

• Brunello Cucinelli's Luxury Lesson (By OM) - Link
• Where to get inspiration for hospitality - Link⁺
• Understanding Digital Consumers, Deloitte - Link
• The Hotel Yearbook Goes All-In on AI - Link
• Creativity Still Wins - Link
Did you know: The word "model" comes from the Latin word "modulus," which means "a small measure" or "a small version." It entered English through Old French in the late Middle Ages, first meaning a small copy or pattern. Defined using Lomar Dictionary⁺