Keynote Title

Teaching in the Age of AI: Rethinking Hospitality Education for an AI-Native Industry

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Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how knowledge is accessed, applied, and created. Students now enter the classroom with AI tools that can generate essays, analyze data, write code, and simulate business decisions in seconds. This keynote examines what teaching should look like in a world where information is no longer scarce and AI acts as a constant intellectual collaborator. Rather than resisting these tools, educators must rethink pedagogy to focus on critical thinking, problem framing, verification of AI outputs, and real-world application. Using examples from hospitality and technology education, the session explores how faculty can redesign assignments, assessments, and classroom experiences to prepare students for an AI-native workplace.

Ira Vouk

​Ira Vouk is a distinguished tech innovator, consultant, and educator with nearly two decades of hands-on experience in the hospitality industry, recognized for her expertise in automation, revenue management, and profitability optimization. She developed the Adjusted RevPAR (ARPAR), an advanced performance metric designed to better reflect true profit maximization. As the creator of iRates—one of the first automated revenue management systems to integrate machine learning—she helped pioneer modern RMS solutions; the platform was later acquired and rebranded as IQrates.

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Vouk further contributed to industry innovation by bringing to market the Pricing Intelligence Engine (PIE) at Cloudbeds, now considered one of the fastest-growing RMS tools in hospitality. She has also supported analytics advancements through her work with Duetto. Beyond product development, she is deeply engaged in industry leadership, serving as an advisor to organizations such as HFTP, HTNG, Fornova, and The California State University Hospitality & Tourism Alliance, as well as contributing to the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.

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An accomplished author and thought leader, Vouk has published books and widely contributed to platforms like HospitalityNet and HSMAI. She is also a frequent global speaker on hospitality technology, distribution, revenue management, profitability, and automation. In academia, she lectures at San Diego State University and has served as a guest lecturer at leading international institutions. She is also the originator of the Hotel Tech Ecosystem diagram and the author of one of the first online courses on Hospitality Technology and AI Search Optimization, continuing to shape both industry practice and education.