Week in, week out, I have conversations with hospitality leaders who are eager to unlock new digital revenue opportunities. From connecting POS data to CRM, to real-time marketing automation, to enabling experimentation with AI-powered content, promotions, pricing and forecasting. This week alone one leader explained that the absolute biggest headache he has right now is two systems not speaking to each other. If he could just solve that one thing it would make a world of difference.
Over and over again I hear the same thing, the blocker is API access. It’s not that the APIs are bad, it’s that access to them is either completely restricted, or the costs associated with gaining access to them is prohibitive.
I have no doubt about it, this is a fundamental blocker to digital transformation and growth potential for hospitality, a sector that needs that growth right now, more than ever before.
What an API Does
An API (Application Programming Interface) is simply a structured way for two pieces of software to communicate. Think of them as the connective tissue between two systems. One system has data in format A, and a second system needs to access that data and pass new data back in the format the first system expects.
An example of API’s at work in hospitality is the WiFi provider sharing email and consent data with the CRM, or the POS sharing sales data with the booking system.
In practice, an ‘Open API’ that approved partners can access should be a basic expectation in hospitality technology. It would allow different systems in an operator’s tech stack to integrate and work together rather than in isolation.
But not all APIs are equal, broadly speaking, there are two common models.
Closed or Restricted APIs
These are tightly controlled by the vendor. Access may require commercial agreements, new subscription fees, approval processes, or limited data permissions. Some restrict what data can be accessed, how frequently it can be pulled, or which partners can connect.
This model protects the system provider from potential competition, but also creates dependency, friction and bottlenecks for operators trying to innovate.
Open APIs
Open APIs are publicly documented, accessible and intentionally designed to enable third-party development. Vendors still maintain governance and security, but the philosophy is collaborative rather than defensive.
Open does not mean uncontrolled; it means interoperable and open for collaboration.
The Real Cost of Closed Ecosystems
When APIs are restrictive, innovation slows. Operators are pushed towards using a bundled platform instead of best-in-class tech for each use case. Generally speaking, this suits well-established legacy tech incumbents.
However, when you listen to the industry, they are actively looking at alternatives, as they are tired of being restricted by the systems they already use. New technology vendors struggle to get permission to integrate and, therefore, to offer the solutions an operator has asked for.
As a result, data sits in silos, and new use cases are blocked. Closed APIs cap the total value the tech industry can create for operators.
Hospitality is not and cannot be a single platform world, despite what some vendors hope. The guest journey spans booking engines, POS platforms, CRM systems, loyalty tools, payment gateways, guest feedback, BI dashboards and increasingly AI-driven services.
If these systems cannot freely interoperate, the value that can be created between them never compounds, and it costs brands real-world revenue. When they do easily integrate, the value multiplies, and new use cases can be tried, tested, and improved.
More connected data leads to better automation, which, in turn, enables smarter personalisation. Smarter personalisation increases revenue and guest satisfaction, and stronger guest satisfaction ultimately drives repeat visits and revenue growth.
This is called network effect economics: When systems interconnect, each platform becomes more valuable and stickier because of the others they integrate with. Closed ecosystems limit that effect, while open ecosystems expand it.
E-commerce shows this clearly. Platforms such as Shopify provide Open APIs that allow thousands of apps to integrate, creating a thriving ecosystem where merchants are choosing the best tools, innovation happens faster, and competition relies on excellence, not gatekeeping.
Interoperability and open APIs create three powerful advantages for operators
1. Better Data
When systems share information freely, operators can unify guest profiles across touchpoints. That creates clearer insight into lifetime value, preferences and behaviour – the single customer view everyone is craving.
2. Better Automation
Real-time triggers become possible, marketing campaigns can be dynamic based on real-time availability in the booking platforms, and promotional activity can be tailored and specific to each individual to ensure margin is maintained, rather than eroded.
3. Better AI
AI is only as powerful as the data it can access. Siloed platforms restrict visibility, but interoperable systems allow AI models to draw from broader, richer datasets, improving accuracy and impact.
More data creates better automation, smarter AI and more favourable outcomes, which in turn creates more value for operators.
The Integration Advantage
The platforms that are easiest to integrate with become hubs that others build with and on. In every rapidly evolving technology ecosystem, integration-friendly platforms gain gravity, developers build on top of them, partners prioritise them, and operators favour them, because they reduce friction and allow any new opportunity to be capitalised on quickly.
Being closed may feel like it increases stickiness in the short term, by keeping out potential competitors, but when your product becomes the connective layer across an ecosystem, you are not easier to replace. You are critical to ongoing success.
How Do We Move Forward?
Identifying this as a gap in the hospitality landscape isn’t about criticising vendors. Security, compliance and commercial sustainability matter, while data governance is critical.
But the industry needs a shift in expectations from its tech providers.
Operators Must Seek Interoperability
Procurement conversations would be great if they included API openness as a core requirement, included in the price of any system. Integration capability should sit alongside functionality, support and price in every buying decision.
Collective Standards Matter
Multi-site operators, management companies and industry bodies can collaborate on shared expectations for integration standards and data accessibility. Hospitality is fragmented, but coordinated demand changes incentives. If operators demanded openness, everyone in the ecosystem would benefit. Including guests.
Suppliers Can Collaborate
Vendors do not need to open everything blindly, but clearer documentation, structured partnership frameworks and freely available integration would reduce friction dramatically. AI is now making the actual integration faster and simpler. There are a host of AI tools that can write an integration from start to finish in under an hour, including tests.
If suppliers have open APIs and good documentation, any new integration doesn’t have to go on the roadmap; it can just happen in the background.
Carey Benn is the CEO of Guestwise, an AI powered sales & marketing platform for hospitality
