The Opportunist of the Moment: Today an AI Expert, Yesterday Something Else

I don’t know if you feel the same, but I’ve already lost count of how many times I’ve seen the same characters reinvent themselves. First they were Big Data gurus, then Social Media gurus, before that Revenue Management gurus and, of course, online marketing gurus. Today, with great solemnity, they appear proclaiming themselves generative AI experts, because—wait for it—they have discovered how to write a prompt in ChatGPT.

The phenomenon would be amusing if there were not hotels, business owners and teams behind it, ultimately placing their trust in these seasonal visionaries. The most curious thing is that they present themselves as pioneers in something they do not master, embrace it with excessive enthusiasm and, within a matter of months, are already offering courses, mentoring and magic formulas. Their secret? Updating their LinkedIn label.

The opportunist has an infallible radar: they spot any new trend before it becomes established and turn it into their banner. It matters little that yesterday they were selling “the social media revolution” or that the day before they were explaining “the definitive revenue management formula”. Today, they will convince you that your hotel will not survive without their prompts. And tomorrow, who knows, they may declare themselves an expert in the metaverse, neurotourism or hotel management with drones.

The irony is that, in practice, many of these “experts” have never managed a hotel, never dealt with a quality audit or resolved an overbooking in the middle of peak season. Yet there they are, talking to you about business strategy as though theirs were real experience rather than a crash-course reinvention.

Ultimately, hospitality does not need fashionable gurus; it needs serious professionals who understand the difference between a tool and a strategy, who know that a prompt cannot replace vision, team leadership or a service culture.

That is why, whenever one of these opportunists appears, my advice is simple:

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• Ask what tangible results they have achieved, not how many followers they have.

• Look at their full track record, not the latest title they have given themselves.

• Be wary of magic formulas, because in hospitality, as in life, they do not exist.

Ultimately, a well-written prompt can help, of course. But making it the cornerstone of a hotel strategy is like thinking that knowing how to order a coffee with an Italian accent makes you a barista.

The problem is not curiosity or continuous learning; that is something we all share and need. The problem is the superficiality with which some people turn every fad into their new business. They do so without context, without practical experience and, most seriously, without responsibility towards those who trust them.

Because behind every opportunist there is always someone who pays the price: a hotel that invests time and money in a passing fad, a team that gets excited by empty promises or a leadership team that loses its way by following the “expert of the moment”. And the worst part is that, when everything fails, the opportunist is already preparing their next disguise.

The irony is that hospitality, unlike these characters, does not change outfits every season. Our challenges remain the same: profitability, guest satisfaction, team cohesion and long-term sustainability. AI can add value, of course it can, but only when it is integrated into a coherent vision—not as an improvised trick used to sell smoke and mirrors.

Perhaps we should start valuing those who shout, “I know the secret!” less, and those who do the quiet, consistent and transformative work more. True experts do not proclaim themselves as such: they are recognised because their results speak for them. Opportunists, by contrast, need to shout louder because the echo of their emptiness is far too obvious.

What amuses me most is that these opportunists believe they will go down in hospitality history for having discovered how to write prompts. In reality, the only place they will end up is in the “mental spam” folder of those of us who have already seen all their previous incarnations.

Hospitality, with all its complexity, does not yield to quick formulas or fair-weather visionaries. Here, changing your LinkedIn title is not enough: you have to put in the work at reception, resolve an overbooking at two in the morning and stay calm when the air conditioning breaks down in the middle of August. That is applied knowledge; everything else is verbal fireworks.

And while they present themselves as visionaries of the latest thing, the people who truly keep hotels moving forward remain busy with what matters: cohesive teams, happy guests and a sustainable business. Curiously, none of those achievements fits into a three-line prompt.

So the next time one of these new “prompt prophets” comes your way, take a deep breath, smile and remember: in hospitality, as in life, it is not about jumping on the latest trend, but about earning trust day after day. And that, however much it may pain opportunists, cannot be learned in a YouTube tutorial or on a weekend course.