I lead digital and automation at a hotel group, advise hospitality technology companies, and build with AI in my own lab. I help founders grow and hotels put AI to work.
Advisory roles, clients and the hotel group I help run
01 — Three sides
One person, three sides of the table.
Few people in hospitality buy hotel technology as an operator, advise the companies that sell it and build with AI themselves. I do all three, and each side keeps the others honest.
The operator’s seat
I buy and run it.
Since 2024 I have been Chief Digital Strategy & Business Automation Officer at Planhotel Hospitality Group: digital strategy, automation and AI adoption inside a working hotel group. I know what gets adopted, what gets ignored and why.
- Planhotel Hospitality Group
- Since 2024
The vendor’s side
I help the companies that sell it.
Nearly a decade in commercial roles at Triptease, SiteMinder, Cloudbeds and Canary Technologies, from account executive to global director. Today I advise four hospitality technology companies. Founders get the buyer’s view and the seller’s.
- Canary Technologies
- RoomPriceGenie
- LobbyAI
- Snapfix
The maker’s bench
I build with AI myself.
I never learned to code, yet I built and launched Astia Web, a website service for hotels and small businesses, with AI as my engineering team. The same method produced the brands and websites for Hotel Association Zanzibar, THE VIEW Lugano and Francorosso.
- Astia Web
- Hotel Association Zanzibar
- THE VIEW Lugano
- Francorosso
Tried before advised.
Every recommendation rests on something I have run, sold, built or tested. When I have not tried something, I say so, and offer to try it.
02 — How it fits together
Each line of work feeds the others.
Advice for the companies building hotel technology, practical builds for the hotels using it, and a lab that keeps producing the evidence both depend on.
Every turn makes the next one more credible.
The Lab
I try new things with AI on real problems. Every experiment, successful or not, becomes a Field Note.
Proof
Field Notes and case notes. Hotels buy from someone who has visibly done the thing.
AI in Practice
Paid work inside hotels, and first-hand evidence of what operators actually adopt.
Advisory
Founders get that evidence. They bring back a view across the market, problems worth solving and, now and then, a partner for a venture.
What is in the Lab now.
The Lab shows only what exists today.
- Venture
Astia Web
Websites for hotels and small businesses: brand guide, custom site, every change and every language for CHF 150 a month per site. Built and run with AI, with paying customers.
A Rosso Consulting company
Visit Astia Web(opens in a new tab) - Live
AI-built brand guides and websites
The method behind the Hotel Association Zanzibar, THE VIEW Lugano and Francorosso work, now offered as Build modules in AI in Practice.
See AI in Practice - Testing
AI audit toolkit
Distribution consistency, guest sentiment, and search and AI visibility, being prepared as Build modules.
03 — Notes
Recent notes.
- The Rate Parity Trap How OTA promotions quietly eat your direct bookings while you maintain “parity.” 7 min read
- Your hotel is winning the click — and losing the booking The conversion gap between OTAs and direct is not a pricing problem. It is a product problem. 6 min read
- The one skill that will define luxury hotel leadership in the AI era It is not “AI strategy” or “human touch.” It is the judgment to know what is neither. 6 min read
Bring the question.
The first conversation is unbilled and takes about thirty minutes. The shape of the work comes later.
Or write to marco@rossoconsulting.ch