Artificial Intelligence in the Hospitality Industry: A Review of Research Trends on Customer Experience, Operational Efficiency, and Ethical Issues

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force in the hospitality industry, reshaping service delivery, operational management, and ethical governance. As AI-based technologies, such as chatbots, service robots, and algorithm-driven decision-support systems, are increasingly adopted, hospitality organizations face both opportunities for efficiency and personalization, as well as challenges related to trust, labor, and ethical responsibility. Despite a rapidly growing body of literature, existing studies remain fragmented, often focusing on isolated applications or outcomes.
Method: The purpose of this study is to systematically review recent research on the utilization of artificial in-telligence (AI) in the hospitality industry and to analyze it across three key dimensions: customer experience, oper-ational and managerial efficiency, and ethical and social issues. A structured literature review approach was em-ployed to synthesize recent academic studies and identify major research themes and future research directions. Portions of this manuscript were developed with the assistance of generative artificial intelligence; however, all content was critically reviewed and finalized by the authors to ensure academic rigor and integrity.
Results: The review reveals three dominant research streams in hospitality AI studies. First, AI-based services enhance service accessibility, responsiveness, and personalization, positively affecting customer experience. Sec-ond, AI contributes to operational efficiency through demand forecasting, pricing, and decision support. However, these benefits are accompanied by workforce-related challenges. Third, ethical issues such as privacy protection and algorithmic transparency have gained increasing attention.
Conclusion: This study argues that the sustainable adoption of AI in hospitality depends on balancing techno-logical efficiency with human-centered service values and ethical accountability. By providing an integrative over-view of existing research, this review contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of AI-driven transfor-mation in the hospitality industry and offers directions for future research and the responsible implementation of AI.