A UDG-trained hotelier reminds future tourism professionals that AI in hotels doesn't replace leadership, it demands more of it

By Zendoric · October 7, 2026.

The facts are modest and local: the Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUCosta) at the Universidad de Guadalajara organized a lecture for World Tourism Day, delivered by César Escalera Uribe, manager of the Fiesta Americana Puerto Vallarta hotel and a graduate of that same degree program. He spoke about professional careers and leadership and, along the way, urged students to "get to know and take advantage of the new technological tools" of artificial intelligence in hotel processes, without going into which specific systems or which tasks they automate. There is no product, figure or study here to analyze: it is a university lecture that mentions AI as one more skill to acquire.

That is precisely why it is worth not overselling it. What matters is not the technical content —there is none— but the framing: an industry executive positions AI as a tool that adds to the trade, not as a substitute for human judgment. That distinction matters because it is exactly where, sector by sector, the real boundary of employment affected by automation is being drawn.

In tourism and hospitality, as we have noted before when reviewing AI's impact by sector, the pattern repeats: in-person work and unique talent hold up, while administrative and repetitive work —bookings, back office, reporting— migrates to software. A manager who listens to an unhappy guest, resolves a staffing crisis or negotiates with a supplier cannot be replaced by a language model; a system that optimizes rates, manages room inventory or drafts occupancy reports largely can be, already today. That the recommendation comes from inside the sector, and not from a software vendor, is a small but consistent sign that the hotel industry is beginning to accept that division of labor as normal, not as a threat.

The underlying read connects with the thesis we hold at Zendoric: the problem is not that AI eliminates work in hospitality, but that it redefines which part of that work remains valuable. In the short term, that pushes down on purely administrative positions and forces those who aspire to manage to compete on something software does not offer: judgment, empathy and the ability to support teams. It is a demanding transition for anyone entering the sector trained only in operational processes. But it is also confirmation, in a classroom in Puerto Vallarta, of a pattern we already see repeating in banking, law and education: technology takes away the routine and leaves more room —not less— for the human leadership that knows how to use it.