She joined the company in early 2023. Prior to AKA, she served in senior-level technology positions at Loews Hotels and at Sonesta International Hotels where she oversaw hospitality applications for the company’s managed properties. She also spent several years on the vendor side, working in implementation services at MICROS.

When Lee arrived at AKA, the company was facing many of the same challenges that other hospitality organizations contend with, primarily the need to modernize the technology stack. “It’s not the sexiest part of the job, but it’s definitely necessary,” she said, adding that she has received a lot of
support for innovation.

While updating the infrastructure, she decided to leverage artificial intelligence at the same time. “I asked our leadership team to really lean into the Microsoft environment,” which might mean using Copilot in Outlook to help draft an email or using Ideas in Excel to get suggestions for data analysis. “The Microsoft platform has helped solve a lot of problems and is great for a smaller company,” she said. “When someone asks for new technology, we often
find a tool in the Microsoft universe that fits the bill, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of their offering.”

She also partnered with Cloud5 to act as a service desk for the organization and facilitate engagement between AKA team members and IT staff. The company has instituted ‘attended first log-ins,’ whereby all new hires get a one-on-one session with an IT specialist who not only walks them through how to log in to critical apps and set up multi-factor authentication but also answers their technology-related questions. “We’re doing this as a way to engage team members early and help them feel comfortable working with IT,” she said.

Although Lee and her IT team hold town hall style gatherings to discuss technology changes with employees, she has found that the one-on-one meetings are especially beneficial. “It’s about meeting people where they are and being approachable and personable.”

Security is also top of mind for Lee, and she recently deployed YubiKeys to support multiple authentication protocols. “We were seeing phishing attempts all the time,” she said. The key can be used across any tech stack—legacy or modern—so that employees no longer need to open an app or memorize a code. They simply touch the YubiKey to verify.

Lee’s favorite achievement is the launch of a unique loyalty program called Access AKA. Similar in design to that of a high-end club membership, the paid program offers access to bespoke experiences, savings and upgrades as well as a designer collection of items for the home. “Since we’re a lifestyle brand, we wanted a highly curated experience for our members,” she said, adding that the program has been an unqualified success. “We rolled it out last year, and it has been a marketing and technology triumph.”

KATIE’S INDUSTRY PREDICTIONS:

THE CHASM BETWEEN BUDGET AND HIGH-END PROPERTIES WILL WIDEN. “BUDGET HOTELS WILL MOVE TOWARD LESS HUMAN INTERACTION, WHILE HIGH-END PROPERTIES WILL RETURN TO A MORE PERSONALIZED TOUCH.”

HOTELS WILL USE MORE GENERATIVE AI. “WE’LL MOVE TOWARD AI THAT DOES MORE THAN ANALYZE DATA AND PERFORM SPECIFIC TASKS,” SHE PREDICTS. “WE’LL USE AI THAT ACTUALLY CREATES NEW CONTENT.”

GUEST CENTRICITY WILL BE REFLECTED IN TECHNOLOGY IN A NEW WAY. “FOR YEARS, THE PMS HAS BEEN AT THE CENTER OF THE TRANSACTIONAL SYSTEM, BUT I BELIEVE WE’LL SOON SEE A SHIFT TOWARD IT BECOMING SECONDARY TO CUSTOMER-FOCUSED SYSTEMS.”