Wang, Pola Qi2024-12-022024-12-022024-01-02Current Issues in Tourism, ISSN: 1368-3500 (Print); 1747-7603 (Online), Taylor and Francis Group, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-18. doi: 10.1080/13683500.2023.23000301368-35001747-7603http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18408Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has pioneered a new era in AI, globally acclaimed for its content creation and language understanding. This advancement is reshaping industries like hospitality, offering innovative applications but also raising ethical and efficiency challenges. In the context of New Zealand’s hotel industry, renowned for its vibrant and inclusive ‘Kiwi’ hospitality culture, the idea of incorporating generative AI offers a novel perspective. While its application could potentially enhance service efficiency and help to alleviate staff shortages, integration with the country’s deeply rooted cultural values demands a carefully considered approach. This study adopted a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews with hotel managers and AI experts in New Zealand. The findings revealed that generative AI holds promises for cost savings, work efficiency and meeting specific social group demands. Concerns have been raised, however, relating to the ability of AI to handle complex interactions, incorporate a sense of Kiwi culture, respond appropriately to service contingency events, maintain data privacy and meet the generational service preferences of guests. The absence of clear AI legislation has led to cautious interest among hotel managers, restrained by concerns around legality, privacy and service quality.© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/3508 Tourism35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services3504 Commercial Services3506 Marketing1503 Business and Management1505 Marketing1506 TourismSport, Leisure & Tourism3506 Marketing3508 Tourism4406 Human geographyJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1080/13683500.2023.2300030