The hotel industry is facing a "period of unprecedented change", Antoine Medawar, managing director of Amadeus Hospitality Business Group, said.
A new report commissioned by the GDS and travel technology company identified three
Key drivers of the expected changes: globalisation, a new breed of customer and new technologies.
Globalisation and the emergence of new markets, like Russia, China, India and the Gulf would create new opportunities for the industry, the report A blueprint for the future of the hospitality industry said.
But it warned that the new markets were different. People in China will "search for, plan and book a hotel in a different way from customers from Russia."
It also said that brand integrity was "crucial" and hotel chains must offer the consistent levels of service across the world as well as catering for locals markets.
Modern travellers will also want their stay built around their personal needs, the report said.
Hotels had to meet the demands of travellers who had done significant research before arriving.
"The more demanding customer of the future will want to engage with a hotel across all touch points where appropriate.
"Hotels will need to capture and store more data, yet access to it must be faster and more targeted in order to personalise the guest experience," the report said.
Hotels will also need to keep pace with new technologies so that guests can book via their mobile phones.
"The growing importance of the mobile channel is clear. Although the use of smaller devices for booking is not yet commonplace, it is anticipated the technology platforms used by hospitality companies must support and enable all user interactions to integrate in the future, from phone to fax to PC to PDA to mobile," it said.
Mr Medawar said: "The clear message from this report is that the hospitality industry is undergoing a period of unprecedented change and will continue to transform. Customers are changing; technology is changing; markets are changing."
* The report was compiled for Amadeus by Inspire Resources which questioned senior hotel executives, consultants, academics and researchers.