Stephen Rosen Interview

Over the next five years, hotel technology will move toward fewer vendors, more integrated systems, and lower total cost for hoteliers. Owners and operators are increasingly pushing back on fragmented stacks that drive up fees, complexity, and operational overhead.

Tambourine is positioning itself at the center of that shift. Our first major step is Tambourine One - a website with a fully built-in booking engine. By eliminating the need for a separate booking engine, we remove an entire category of vendor dependency while simultaneously eliminating booking engine fees. It’s a more efficient, more profitable, and more integrated model for how hotel technology should work.

It’s not hyperbole to say that AI already plays a role in nearly every product and solution we offer today. In some cases, that role is intentionally subtle - automating tasks like generating meta descriptions or image alt tags when they’re missing, ensuring best practices are met without adding operational burden.

In other areas, AI has a more visible impact, such as improving customer service through AI-powered call scoring and analysis. We’re also actively reimagining SEO for an AI-driven discovery landscape. While some of this evolution echoes traditional SEO, much of it is entirely new, driven by how generative engines interpret, summarize, and recommend content.

Looking forward, AI will shape hotel commercial strategies by reducing manual effort, improving decision quality, and helping teams focus on strategy rather than execution - all while operating within clear guardrails.

The biggest challenge isn’t a lack of technology - it’s too much technology and not enough expert support. The industry is plagued by a fragmented vendor landscape where software is easy to buy, but service is hard to find.

Each new tool adds operational cost, training requirements, and dependency on specialized expertise. The result is a complex web of systems that are difficult to manage and even harder to optimize.

Technology can realistically solve this only when it’s paired with hands-on partnership, simplification, and accountability. Fewer systems, better integrated, supported by teams that understand both the technology and the hospitality business.

System integration is critical - but not all integrations are created equal. Tambourine supports hundreds of vendor integrations and continues to build meaningful partnerships as our product stack grows.

At the same time, we take an intentional approach to integration. Not all technology is safe. Not all technology protects consumers and hoteliers. Not all technology improves conversion or performance. Every integration we support is evaluated against strict criteria for security, data integrity, client safety, and commercial impact.

That level of diligence requires time, resources, and discipline - but we believe protecting client profitability and trust matters more than integrating quickly for the sake of a checklist.

Think holistically.

Digital transformation isn’t about adding more tools - it’s about building a cohesive ecosystem that aligns technology, people, and process. Start by asking how each system connects, what it truly replaces, and whether it reduces complexity rather than adding to it.

Prioritize partners who offer both technology and expertise, and who are willing to take responsibility for outcomes, not just implementation. The goal isn’t to be on the cutting edge - it’s to create a stack that is sustainable, secure, and designed to grow with your business.