This study explores business leaders’ imaginative capacity regarding future technologies within human-centric service sectors: hospitality, retail, and healthcare. We analysed narratives of imagined futures from 776 business leaders using thematic clustering and semantic analysis. The results indicate that human–AI collaboration, particularly in achieving front- and back-end operational optimisation, remains the desirable direction for future technology development. Four scenarios were extracted for hospitality technologies: seamless guest experiences, intelligent living spaces, smart operational ecosystems, and empathetic technology. Incremental imagination dominates across all three sectors, whereas hospitality stands out as particularly open to transformational change. The study enriches forward-looking research by illuminating desired technological futures and their implications for business model innovation and technology development.
- Exploring Futures of Hospitality Technology
- Septi Fahmi Choirisa - University of SurreyIis Tussyadiah - University of SurreyErin Chao Ling - University of Surrey
- Peter O'Connor (Editor)Mattia Rainoldi (Editor)Julia Neidhardt (Editor)
- Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2026, pp.259-273
- Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics
- Springer Nature Switzerland; Cham
- 2026
- 991178761302346
- Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management
- English
- Book chapter