We gave control of our hotel inventory away once before. Let's not do it again. At The Lodging Conference, I spoke with Jeff Wagoner, President and CEO of OUTRIGGER Hospitality Group for hashtag#NoVacancyNews, about how hashtag#AI is reshaping hotel search, discovery, and distribution — and what hoteliers must do to stay in control this time. Jeff drew a clear line between the post-9/11 OTA era and what's happening now with generative AI. Back then, the industry leaned on online travel agencies for visibility and lost direct connections with guests. Today, agentic AI tools like ChatGPT could either hand that power back to hotels—or repeat the same mistake. Here's what Jeff shared: 👉 AI isn't just about asking questions—it's about how search renders your brand in a conversational environment. 👉 Hotels must feed accurate, high-quality data into AI systems to ensure they show up first. 👉 Understanding geo-based and algorithmic search will soon matter as much as SEO once did. 👉 Operators that invest early will save on distribution costs and regain control of guest relationships. Jeff's message was clear: The AI era is another inflection point for hashtag#hospitality. Get educated now — or risk falling behind. Thanks to our friends at Unifocus for sponsoring this video. Unifocus , technology that drives value, visit them at Unifocus.com