A Technological Blueprint for Smart and AI-Driven Hospitality in Emerging Tourism Markets: Evidence from Albania

Emerging hospitality markets confront a two-speed ecosystem where operational digitalization outpaces strategic AI readiness, creating a benefit–feasibility gap. Providers recognize substantial technology value yet face implementation constraints from costs, integration complexity, and skills shortages, while guests demonstrate acceptance conditional on trust, with privacy concerns suppressing willingness to pay. Drawing on dual-perspective empirical evidence from Albania’s accommodation sector consisting of a national provider readiness assessment (N = 1821) and a guest acceptance study (N = 689) conducted in prior research, this Design Science Research study develops a segment-differentiated technological blueprint through systematic integration of Design Thinking, service blueprinting, and systems thinking methodologies. Integrated TAM-TOE-DOI framework analysis reveals three distinct provider segments requiring differentiated implementation pathways: Tech Leaders positioned for AI capabilities, Selective Adopters benefiting from smart modules, and Skeptics requiring foundational capabilities. Empirical evidence establishes that regional ecosystem characteristics outweigh organizational scale in determining adoption feasibility, trust operates as a gating condition moderating acceptance and financial commitment, and supply–demand misalignment creates bottlenecks invisible to single-perspective assessments. Theoretical contributions extend TAM-TOE-DOI frameworks from explanatory constructs to design requirements, conceptualize supply–demand alignment as an adoption mechanism, and generate two generalizable design principles: dual-constraint satisfaction requiring simultaneous provider feasibility and guest acceptance, and trust-as-architecture embedding trust mechanisms as structural properties. The proposed segment-differentiated technological blueprint offers actionable implementation pathways aligned with varying levels of provider readiness, providing transferable guidance for policymakers, technology vendors, education providers, and accommodation providers across the Western Balkans, the Mediterranean, and other post-transition economies facing similar heterogeneity in readiness and resource constraints.