Within the framework of the “Da Nang Professional Chef” Competition & the Hospitality Solutions Seminar held at the Furama International Convention Palace (ICP), Furama Resort Da Nang, leaders of the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center shared the city’s tourism promotion plans and new flight routes for 2026.
Aiming to create a healthy professional platform and provide opportunities for executive chefs and chefs to connect, exchange experience, enhance skills, and improve service quality, the event was jointly organized by the Da Nang Labor Federation together with the Da Nang Hotel Association, the U.S. Egg & Poultry Export Council, Furama Resort Da Nang, HORECFEX, and the Da Nang Cultural – Culinary Association. The event gathered more than 1,000 attendees, including representatives of municipal departments and agencies, associations such as the Da Nang Tourism Association and Travel Association, as well as leaders from hotel and restaurant businesses and supplier units.
Taking place over two days, the program featured the inspiring “Da Nang Professional Chef” Competition with the participation of 16 teams. This was followed by the Hospitality Solutions Seminar, highlighted by a presentation from Mr. Phạm Ngọc Lợi – Director of Digital Transformation, Resort Hotel Division, Phú Long, on AI software in hotel strategy. Also included was the presentation by Ms. Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm – Director of the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center, on tourism promotion plans and the development of new flight routes in 2026.
Mr. Phạm Ngọc Lợi shares about the strategic brain for hotels in the digital era
The digital era and the “gold mine” of data for the hospitality industry
As the global hospitality industry enters an era of strong digital transformation, data has become a valuable asset that helps businesses enhance competitiveness and optimize customer experience. From booking behavior and online reviews to travel trends, every piece of information carries strategic value. However, in Vietnam, most accommodation providers still manage data in traditional ways, leading to fragmentation and ineffective utilization. Therefore, digitization and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in operational management have become an inevitable trend, helping the hotel industry shift from intuition-based operations to data-driven decision-making.
According to Mr. Phạm Ngọc Lợi – Director of Digital Transformation, Resort Hotel Division, Phú Long, although many hotels are “sitting on a gold mine of data,” they have not fully utilized its potential because data is fragmented and disconnected: competitors’ room rates, customer reviews, internal business reports, or even travel search trends on social media. All of these exist in separate systems without linkage or holistic analysis, resulting in slow, subjective decisions with limited forecasting capability.
“With my responsibility in digital transformation, I can closely monitor market movements through search data on internet channels. For example, searches from the Japanese market about traveling to Vietnam increased by 7% compared to the same period in 2024—this is a positive signal showing demand is recovering strongly. However, the question is: how can hotels and businesses transform these data points and trends into concrete decisions in their operations?
Hotels can absolutely identify which markets guests come from and through which channels, but they may not know how to leverage that information to attract guests to their own properties. This is precisely the challenge of data extraction and processing—an issue that remains unresolved.” Mr. Phạm Ngọc Lợi shared about the current reality for hotels in the digital era.
Sharing about website ranking that indicates which channels markets use to search destinations, yet turning data into strategic plans remains a challenge for many businesses
“Surprised by the AI Hotel Strategist solution”
Facing this reality, Mr. Phạm Ngọc Lợi introduced the AI Hotel Strategist (AIHS) solution— a pioneering artificial intelligence platform developed by Furama to put an end to fragmented data in the hospitality industry. Built on a cloud platform, AIHS automatically collects, consolidates, and “decodes” data from multiple sources, enabling managers to see a real-time, comprehensive picture of the market, competitors, and brand.
In his view, AIHS is assessed as the hotel’s “strategic brain” in the digital age, creating clear breakthroughs in revenue management and service quality across three pillars: (1) Revenue optimization, (2) Quality elevation, and (3) Market forecasting.
By applying artificial intelligence, the system simultaneously analyzes room-rate data, booking history, market trends, and customer feedback to recommend optimal prices in real time, ensuring maximum profit and flexible competitiveness. In parallel, AIHS “listens to” and processes thousands of guest reviews to identify areas for improvement in operational processes, helping hotels enhance guest experience, strengthen brand image, and optimize revenue performance comprehensively.
AIHS not only tracks price fluctuations or booking volume, but also conducts a comprehensive analysis of flight search data, online travel behavior, and destination trends across major platforms such as Google, OTAs, and social media. Through AI-based forecasting models, the system can detect early shifts in travel demand by season, region, or customer segment—allowing managers to proactively adjust pricing strategy, staffing plans, marketing budgets, and resource allocation. Thanks to this forecasting capability, hotels are no longer passive in the market, but can anticipate trends, shape demand, and optimize business performance both in the short and long term.
Attendees expressed interest in the topic of applying the “strategic brain” in the hospitality industry
In the context where hotels often use vouchers or coupons for promotions, guest appreciation programs, or partner collaborations, managing and tracking the effectiveness of these vouchers remains a major challenge.
Citing the voucher management module within AIHS, Mr. Phạm Ngọc Lợi shared: “AIHS enables users to track the entire voucher issuance and redemption process in real time, ensuring transparency, accuracy, and campaign efficiency optimization. This is not only a management tool, but also a way AIHS leverages data to improve operational performance, supporting businesses on their digital transformation journey and elevating hotel service quality.”
With its pioneering direction in digital transformation, Furama Resort Da Nang continues to affirm its leading role by bringing AI technology into hotel management, contributing to a smarter and more sustainable development of Vietnam’s tourism and accommodation industry.
