roomangel CEO Brian Reeves on AI and the Future of Hotel Distribution

Hospitality Net met with Brian Reeves, founder and CEO of roomangel Foundation, at HITEC 2025 to explore how AI is reshaping hotel distribution. roomangel Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation, launched Hive as its first major initiative to help hoteliers reclaim control over pricing, distribution, and performance analytics. Hive is not just another AI tool—it’s a foundation for the industry’s transition to what Reeves calls the "agentic future."

What is Hive, and how does it work?

Hive draws from roomangel’s proprietary pricing datasets and integrates them into a fully AI-native environment. The goal is immediate performance improvement for hotels while building a long-term path towards AI readiness. Reeves described Hive as a "performance layer" that operates across revenue management, marketing, finance, and distribution, providing insights out of the box and enabling hoteliers to use, share, and even co-create AI-powered tools tailored to their needs.

The ‘Agentic Future’ of Travel Bookings

Reeves envisions a future where travel bookings are defined by conversations between intelligent agents—AI-powered bots acting on behalf of both consumers and hotels. In this new paradigm, hotels must be equipped to respond to thousands of simultaneous AI queries. To do so, they must optimize pricing and performance data to operate at machine speed and with greater precision.

"Never overpay for a hotel room" is the most sought-after feature by travelers, and Reeves believes only the industry itself, through roomangel’s data, can deliver on that promise.

Addressing Fragmentation and Silos

A recurring theme in the conversation was the fragmentation of hotel data and operations. Reeves criticized the traditional model where departments operate in silos, with marketing, revenue management, and finance each working from disconnected systems. Hive aims to bridge this gap, allowing seamless collaboration and shared intelligence.

"Most of us have been trying to out-analyse our competition with incomplete information," Reeves noted. With Hive, users can connect Google Analytics data, benchmark website conversion performance, and generate AI-powered suggestions for improvement—all in one unified platform.

Is AI Replacing People?

Reeves addressed the question head-on: Is AI replacing people? His answer was pragmatic yet optimistic. While AI-driven replacement is inevitable across industries, Hive’s goal is to augment human capabilities, enabling smarter decisions and better collaboration among marketing managers, finance directors, and revenue teams.

Cutting Through the AI Hype

Reeves offered a candid assessment of the AI hype at HITEC. While many companies claim to offer AI solutions, most are simply rebranding automation. True AI, he argued, is rare but critical. He praised companies like Cloudbeds for taking meaningful steps in the AI space while cautioning against overhyped, non-functional solutions.

A Call to Action for Hoteliers

Reeves ended with an invitation: "Create a free account. Break it. Play with it. Add your data. See what you can create." He encouraged hoteliers to view Hive as an industry-owned opportunity to shape the future—one that is fast approaching.

In an era where AI could consolidate power in the hands of OTAs or empower hotels, Reeves made his stance clear: The future must be direct.

Brian Reeves
CEO of roomangel
roomangel Foundation