The Zoom was supposed to be a quick check-in. Fifteen minutes, tops.
My friend runs a mid-sized hotel group. He’d just come out of a board meeting where someone floated the idea of replacing their property management system with « AI tools. » Claude Code was in the headlines. Software stocks were tanking. The board wanted to know: could they build what they needed themselves now?
He wasn’t calling to ask my opinion. He was calling because he’d already said no and wasn’t sure he was right.
« They kept saying the same thing, » he told me. « If AI can write code, why are we paying for software? »
I asked him what happened at 2am last Tuesday.
He paused. « What do you mean? »
« When the convention block released and your pricing had to adjust across six channels before your competitor grabbed the demand. What handled that? »
« The system, » he said.
« Right. And when the guest in 412 disputed the charge and your team needed the folio, the payment record, and the stay history in one place to respond before the chargeback window closed? »
« …the system. »
« And when your ops lead needed to short-staff the overnight shift because occupancy dropped, but had to know which rooms were due for checkout so she didn’t understaff housekeeping? »
He was quiet for a second.
« I get it, » he said. « They’re talking about software that shows you things. I’m talking about software that does things. »
That’s the distinction the market is missing right now.
Yes, AI will hollow out software that exists to display information, route workflows, or automate tasks a smart agent could handle. Some software is being de-rated correctly.
But software that actually operates a business? Software that holds the transactions, executes the pricing, processes the payments, maintains the compliance, and runs 24/7 with real consequences for failure? That software becomes more valuable in an agentic world, not less.
This is what we build at Cloudbeds. The future state of Agents need something to act on. They need persistent state. They need execution authority. They need a system of action that can be trusted to run the business at 2am when no one’s watching.
Sonder had a $2.2 billion valuation. « Tech-enabled hospitality. » When their systems couldn’t integrate with Marriott’s infrastructure, the whole thing collapsed in a weekend. Guests got kicked out mid-stay. Employees had no way to help.
That’s what happens when your software watches the business but can’t actually run it.
The market is lumping mission-critical vertical platforms in with generic SaaS. That’s a mistake.
My friend’s board will probably bring this up again next quarter. The headlines will still be loud. But he’s not worried anymore.
He knows which side of the line he’s on. So do I.