What does it take to build technology that can truly transform hotel operations?

In this episode, David Millili and Steve Carran sit down with Kevin King, CEO of Shiji, for a wide-ranging conversation about hospitality technology, artificial intelligence, leadership, and the future of the hotel industry.

Kevin shares his journey from working at a hotel front desk in Australia to leading a global hospitality technology company. He discusses how his experiences living and working in China shaped his leadership philosophy, what he learned from scaling MICROS across Asia Pacific, and why successful technology companies must ultimately be built around people, trust, and resilience.

The conversation also dives deep into AI in hospitality—and why hotels need to look beyond chatbots and flashy features. Kevin explains how connected platforms, APIs, data governance, security, compliance, and agentic AI can help hotels move from simply answering questions to actually completing operational tasks. Kevin shares his perspective on why AI will eventually become as invisible and essential as the internet, why hotels may be using only a fraction of the technology they already have, and why functionality should come before unnecessary processes and features.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The evolution of hotel PMS and enterprise technology
• How AI can create real operational value for hotels
• Data security, privacy, compliance, and data sovereignty
• Why connected platforms are critical for AI adoption
• The importance of people, resilience, and trust in hospitality leadership

Watch the FULL EPISODE on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YXhod3D2m2M

This episode is sponsored by Shiji: https://www.shijigroup.com/

Links:
Kevin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-king-9689271/
Shiji Group: https://www.shijigroup.com/

For full show notes head to: https://themodernhotelier.com/episode/326

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Connect with Steve and David:
Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E...
David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mil.