CEO of Yanolja on AI Agents Running Hotels

About this episode

Aejaz Sodawala discusses the future of hotel technology with a focus on AI agents and their impact on operations.

What if your hotel ran itself - an “army of AI agents” handling everything from reservations to check-in - while your staff focused entirely on guests? In this episode, Aejaz Sodawala, CEO of Yanolja Cloud Solution, shares a forward-looking blueprint for how hotel tech is evolving - from fragmented systems to unified, AI-driven platforms powering over 23,000 hotels globally. Takeaways: Why data silos are quietly killing your AI strategy — and how to restructure your tech stack around a shared data layer to unlock real-time decision-making and automation. How leading operators are driving 20%+ direct bookings — using integrated booking engines, pricing transparency vs OTAs, and content-driven websites that convert. What “agentic PMS” actually means in practice — and how AI agents will replace repetitive roles (reservations, check-in, pricing) to free staff for higher-value guest interaction. Aejaz has spent 15+ years scaling hotel tech from on-premise systems to cloud platforms now used in 170+ countries. His perspective cuts through the AI hype: most hotels aren’t ready - not because of tools, but because of fragmented infrastructure. The surprising insight? The winners won’t be…

People in this episode

Host: HotelTechReport

Guest: Aejaz Sodawala

Topics covered

• AI in hospitality
• hotel technology
• automation
• data management
• direct bookings
• cloud platforms

Keywords

• AI agents
• hotel management
• reservations
• check-in
• data silos
• PMS
• direct bookings
• cloud technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Yanolja Cloud Solution

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