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Photo Credit: Wei Manfredi, IHG Hotels & Resorts (L) and Arun Nagarajan, Evolve (C), speaking at Skift Data + AI Summit on June 3, 2026 in New York City. Skift
The hospitality companies scaling AI fast aren’t running better pilots. They’ve stopped thinking in pilots at all.
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When Evolve launched an AI platform to address routine guest inquiries near the start of the year, the vacation rental company decided to forego traditional pilot structure and commit to scaling from the start.
In roughly 120 days, the company went from resolving 30% of conversations without human intervention to 60%. Chief Product and Technology Officer Arun Nagarajan said there were mistakes made and “a few embarrassing moments,” but the company quickly scaled to a successful product. Response times dropped, and the platform was able to address inquiries in users’ native language.
“By calling something a pilot, sometimes you reserve a little bit of gumption. … You sort of say, well, that’s just a pilot, let’s not worry about connecting to these systems, let’s not hold it to a higher standard,” Nagarajan said at Wednesday
Curated by Adriana Lee
Travel Technology Reporter
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Tags: artificial intelligence, ihg, skift data and AI summit 2026, the prompt
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The article discusses how travel industry operators like Evolve and IHG are shifting away from traditional pilot projects and instead rapidly scaling their AI initiatives, treating early phases as part of ongoing improvement. This approach requires strong underlying technology infrastructure to ensure speed and accuracy, as well as a culture prepared to embrace change. While AI is sparking organizational shifts and some workforce reductions, executives emphasize its role as a business accelerator rather than merely a cost-cutting measure.
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