Bold white smiling robot icon centered on a black background

I admit it. I use AI.
Probably not for what you think.

Not to design your next flyer. We’ll get to that.

I use it to organize my thoughts, work through data, and research questions worth asking. My brain usually has about seventeen tabs open. Three are playing music. One is planning a campaign. Another is still thinking about something someone said last Tuesday.

I’m passionate about my role as Executive Director of Marketing for LeBlanc + Smith. I also run a successful Airbnb and @bywaterparlor, a popular Instagram account sharing my home and life in New Orleans. I write The Checklist and have started selling coloring books on Amazon.

The blog gives me somewhere to put what I’ve learned, something to look back on, and hopefully something useful for other people in hospitality. The coloring books give a different part of my brain somewhere to go.

I like having ideas. I like following them through. Getting them into an order someone else can follow sometimes takes a little help.

That’s where AI comes in.

I’ve done the research, taken a couple of courses, and spent a lot of time learning how to write useful prompts. Mostly, I use it for organization, data analysis, and market research.

I bring the questions, the context, and the experience. The tool helps me work through the information. I’m responsible for what happens next.

What kind of business are you running? Who are you trying to reach? What’s the budget? What has already been tried? What can the team actually deliver?

Sometimes I spend longer writing the prompt than the tool takes to find the results I’m looking for.

That preparation includes my background, my point of view, the audience, the goal, and the things I absolutely would not say.

If I want help organizing my thoughts, I have to give it my thoughts first. Otherwise, I’m asking it to fill in the blanks with something that could belong to anyone.

Hours of direction. Five minutes to a first version.

This website you’re reading? AI helped me build it.

But first, I spent hours walking it through my background. From bartending and serving to graphic design, work with tech and beauty brands, and the hospitality marketing work I lead today.

I shared my portfolio. Explained how I approach design. What I notice, what I care about, and what makes something feel like my work. We got specific about typography, fonts, spacing, and which information deserved your attention first.

I once worked for an agency owner I loved who was direct as hell. She ingrained the importance of white space and hierarchy in my brain. Through encouragement. And a healthy amount of fear. Apparently, I’m now passing that experience on to a computer. You’re welcome.

The prompts weren’t two sentences asking for a nice website. They were hours of background, references, decisions, feedback, and revisions.

Once that direction was in place, the first version came together in less than five minutes. The first version. Then came more reviewing, adjusting, and getting the details right.

AI also helped me work through domain options, hosting, and how to make updates.

The speed was impressive. But it had a lot to work with before it got started.

A confident answer is not a correct answer.

Especially with numbers.

AI can help organize a spreadsheet, summarize changes, and suggest patterns worth investigating. That doesn’t mean every explanation belongs in your next leadership meeting.

Ask it to show the calculation. Check the date range. Confirm what each column means.

If bookings increased, don’t automatically assume the last campaign caused it. If a report shows advertising revenue, understand how that revenue was credited.

A useful prompt:

“Separate what the data shows from what you’re assuming. Tell me what information is missing.”

Then check the answer against the original report.

A tidy document can still be wrong.

Research needs receipts.

I use AI to organize market research, compare information, and identify what deserves a closer look.

Then I open the sources.

Is the business still operating under that name? Is the offer current? Does the cited page support the claim?

Ask for sources, dates, and gaps. Follow the links.

Also, use information you’re authorized to share. Guest details, employee information, and confidential documents need more consideration than dragging a file into a chat window.

Convenience isn’t permission.

I believe that belongs in the hands of artists and creative people. Their taste, experiences, cultural references, and connection to a community are part of the work. I don’t believe a computer can match that.

The flood of AI-generated event flyers is exhausting. Everything’s an elaborate fantasy illustration, and somehow nobody can tell what fucking time the event starts.

You can use AI to research a market, organize references, explore questions about your identity, or write a clearer creative brief.

Ask what you need to understand about your audience. Research the history behind a visual reference. Organize what you want your brand to communicate.

Then take that thinking to a creative person.

I’d rather use AI to organize the production schedule and pay an artist to make the art.

Your voice still needs to sound like you.

Learning how to use it well takes time. I’ve spent that time working on prompts, giving it context, and figuring out what to question when the results come back.

For reports, I go back to the original data. Are the numbers right? Does the comparison make sense? Does the information actually support the conclusion?

Then I read it out loud.

I work with operators who know hospitality inside and out. That doesn’t mean they spend their day talking about impressions, attribution, or conversion rates. A report should help them understand what happened, why it matters, and what they can do next.

So I check the language, too. Is it clear? Could it be misunderstood? Am I making a result sound more impressive or more certain than it is?

The tool helps me organize and communicate the work. Checking the facts, choosing the words, and standing behind the findings are still my responsibility.

Pick a task before picking a tool.

Rather than declaring one platform the best at everything, start with the job:

Their capabilities overlap, and features depend on your account. Test a real task and review the result.

You don’t need three subscriptions to organize a meeting agenda.

The Reality Check ✓

Yes, I’ve considered the possibility that I’m using tomorrow’s robot overlord to organize today’s to-do list.

For now, I’d rather understand the technology well enough to make deliberate choices.

Use it to organize the mess.
Question the analysis.
Open the sources.
Protect the information.
Pay creative people for their work.

Learning a tool doesn’t mean handing it every job.

And using it doesn’t relieve you of responsibility for what you put into the world.

The judgment is still yours.

The Checklist
Reality checks for modern hospitality.
✓ one out before your next shift.