As hotel technology accelerates at pace, owners and operators face a persistent tension: how to remain flexible enough to meet evolving guest expectations while maintaining the operational stability the business depends on. For Liutauras Vaitkevicius, Principal at Lion Share Hospitality, this tension is not a technology problem as much as a mindset challenge – one that requires hoteliers to rethink how and why they build their tech stacks.
“At the core of it, within hospitality, it’s a debate between traditional operational models and an innovative experiential hospitality,” Liutauras explained. As the industry evolves, he argues, operations, decision-making and controls must evolve alongside it. “Tech stacks are there to enable us all to run the business and be as much in control financially and as flexible operational as possible.”
Too often, however, technology decisions are rooted in the past. “The question to ask here is not whether tech stack will suit the purpose of business today – it is whether business itself will be free to grow and evolve together with ever-changing customer expectations,” he said. For Liutauras, technology must follow the concept, not dictate it. “Way too often technology is chosen around business needs of yesterday rather than that of tomorrow.”
A well-designed tech stack should do more than support operations, it should actively enable creativity. “The ideal tech stack should unlock commercial creativity – allowing business to serve their customers without creating barriers or departmental silos,” he said. Crucially, this means rethinking who technology is really for. “Who are the real users of these systems – is it people sat in offices, or those that are in front of customers, creating ambiences, experiences and services day in and day out?” In his view, “best tech stacks should be built around customer-facing teams, and not back-end users.”
This perspective challenges the long-held idea of a “perfect” or universal hotel tech stack. According to Liutauras, such a concept simply doesn’t exist. “There is no such thing as the ‘perfect’ solution. Be it tech stacks, individual service providers, or conceptual tools,” he said. What matters instead is agility. “The challenge here is to have architectural builds that are agile and innovative.”
Hospitality’s inherently multi-disciplinary nature makes one-size-fits-all approaches unrealistic. “Different areas have different needs,” he noted. “Just because finance needs certain access, controls and reporting tools, this should not create barriers for a head chef to practice his craft, or for maintenance to track their repairs.” Historically, trade-offs have been accepted as inevitable, but Liutauras believes that era should be over. “In 2026, this simply should not be the case.”
Advances in modular and composable technologies mean functions can now be tailored without compromising others. This thinking, he added, should apply not just to individual hotels but also to groups. “Just because concept extends across multiple locations, does no longer mean it should have exactly the same, identical tech stacks,” he said. “Controls can be achieved through intelligent architecture and strong data connections rather than a cookie-cutter approach.”
Yet modularity brings its own risks, particularly when experimentation leads to long-term complexity or technical debt. Avoiding this, Liutauras argued, is a leadership responsibility. “Far too often leadership make decisions, deliver implementation and then completely leave tech stack behind, as if it’s closed-box exercise,” he said. Technology requires ongoing stewardship, not one-off deployment.
He stresses the importance of architecture that allows change without disruption. “No single element (even if it’s PMS or CRM) should be a blocker or create limitations when need for change arises,” he said. Quoting Stafford Beer – “The purpose of a system is what it does” – Liutauras points out that hospitality often fails by buying tools and expecting results without sustained engagement.
To avoid these pitfalls, he advocates a disciplined approach: defining current challenges, articulating a future vision, selecting technology that serves both, building flexibility into the stack, training users properly, and continuously reassessing whether systems remain fit for purpose.
Vendor lock-in is another area where hoteliers must tread carefully. While it is often portrayed as the enemy of flexibility, Liutauras takes a more nuanced view. “Always negotiate maximum contractual flexibility,” he advised. “Flexibility is a strength and not a trade-off. Because if something works well – there is no risk to anyone.”
The real danger, he warns, lies in heavy upfront investment. “The biggest problem… is capex expenditure,” he said, whether in hardware, implementation or training. Large sunk costs make it psychologically and politically difficult to change systems later, even when they no longer serve the business. Instead, “investment should be thought of as an agile and ongoing process,” focused on people, experiences and growth rather than one-off technology bets.
Looking ahead five to ten years, Liutauras believes the guiding principle remains clear. “Unilaterally, the answer is flexibility,” he said. This starts with data ownership, “no system, no vendor should ever limit you from accessing, extracting and fully using your own data”, and extends to user interface, contractual terms and freedom.
In an industry defined by experience, the future-proof tech stack is not the most complex or comprehensive; but the one that remains adaptable, human-centred and ready for change.