South America Smart Hospitality Market Outlook, 2031

Market Drivers
• Aggressive Hospitality Expansion: Latin America's hotel construction pipeline reached 685 projects with 110,033 rooms in Q4 2024, marking a 15% year-on-year increase in projects and a 13% rise in rooms. Looking ahead, 106 new hotels with 17,615 rooms are set to open in 2025, followed by 133 hotels with 20,422 rooms in 2026. This unprecedented expansion, driven by giants like Accor and concentrated in Chile, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic, creates immense demand for smart technology integration across new properties. Each new hotel represents an opportunity to deploy comprehensive smart hospitality solutions from the ground up.
• Government Digital Transformation Mandates: Brazil's Ministry of Tourism, through Minister Celso Sabino, established the Digital National Guest Registration Form (FNRH Digital) in September 2025, eliminating paper-based guest registration across all lodging establishments nationwide. The platform mandates PMS integration and digital check-in processes, compelling hotels to modernize their technology infrastructure. ABIH-SP's Technological Retrofit Program further accelerates adoption through automation across suites, common areas, and energy management. Market Challenges
• Financial Sustainability Pressures: The sustainability of new hospitality projects faces significant challenges in markets with high interest rates and elevated corporate debt, particularly in Brazil. These financial constraints limit hotels' ability to invest in comprehensive smart technology deployments, forcing operators to prioritize investments with the fastest return on investment. The capital-intensive nature of hardware-based solutions like IoT sensors and smart room automation creates particular challenges for smaller and independent properties.
• Fragmented Technology Adoption Across Markets: South America encompasses vastly different markets at varying stages of digital maturity from Brazil's rapidly modernizing hospitality sector to emerging markets with limited technical capabilities. This fragmentation creates challenges for technology providers seeking standardized solutions, while hotel operators in less developed markets face higher barriers to adoption. The diversity of regulatory environments, data protection requirements, and consumer expectations across the continent complicates the development of scalable technology solutions. Market Trends
• AI-Powered Personalization as Competitive Advantage: v3rso's R$11 million technology investment, featuring Brazil's first AI-powered hotel automation system, represents the vanguard of hyper-personalization in South American hospitality. The v3 platform developed with Thoughtworks recognizes returning guests' behavioral patterns and preferences, adjusting room temperature, lighting, and more. Samsung's connected technology ecosystem across Latin America enables hotels to deliver personalized experiences while reducing operational costs by up to 30%. The technology is moving beyond experimentation into core competitive differentiation.
• Invisible Service and Contactless Guest Journeys: Hospitality competitiveness across Latin America is increasingly defined by Invisible Service technological innovation that eliminates friction without intrusive guest awareness. Guest experiences now begin long before arrival through automated check-in processes via instant messaging applications like WhatsApp. Samsung's self-service kiosks eliminate check-in queues, while in-room smartphone and tablet controls enable guests to manage lighting, temperature, and food ordering without physical staff interaction. Digital ecosystems integrated with PMS platforms enable hotels to anticipate guest needs through data analysis of previous stays.