Guest AI or agent
The assistant the guest already uses. In the recordings I used OpenAI Codex to ask the hotel questions and create a test booking. Another assistant may be able to read a page but not book.
Discovery
How an assistant finds a hotel that might fit. Public rooms, images, captions and policies give it something to read. Appearing in results is separate from having permission to book. How Google reads JavaScript sites.
MCP · Model Context Protocol
An open way for assistants to call tools that someone else provides. Our remote server offers hotel actions to a compatible connected assistant. The hotel still decides what is public, private or requires payment approval. Origin of the protocol · How Codex connects to MCP servers.
WebMCP
A proposed browser interface for tools on an open web page. In the booking film, the agent asks for a quote and the hotel shows the result on screen. Google Chrome’s WebMCP explanation. Google documents the interface; Glass Lantern provides the hotel tools.
JavaScript component
A small piece of the hotel’s web page that can show a photo, update a quote or let a guest speak. A web agency can add it to an existing site. See the installation example.
API · Application programming interface
An agreed way for two systems to exchange information or request an action. A hotel server might ask its reservation system, “Can two adults book this room for these three nights, at what price, and on what terms?”
PMS and booking engine
The property management system is where the hotel manages its stays. The booking engine sells rooms against available inventory and rates. One supplier can provide both. Cloudbeds and Mews document hotel booking interfaces. In Glass Lantern their role is simulated.
Checkout and agent payment
If I pay myself, my AI sends me the hotel’s payment link. I open it and choose how to pay. In both films I chose Apple Pay in Stripe’s test checkout. How Stripe Checkout works.
Why I like Apple Pay for a hotel. I can approve the amount on my device and share the email address for my confirmation in the same checkout when the hotel asks for it. Apple Pay uses a payment token to keep my card number private. Stripe says the extra authentication can help more payments win bank approval. The hotel gets the confirmation address from Stripe Checkout and uses SendGrid to send the email. Apple’s checkout guide · Stripe on payment approval rates.
If I ask my AI to pay, it needs my permission and a way to use my chosen payment method. One example is Stripe’s Link agent wallet. With a compatible agent and hotel, I could approve ฿1,200 for the airport pickup. The wallet can issue a time-limited payment token for that purchase, keeping my card number private. My AI passes the token to the hotel to complete the payment. How Stripe supports agent bookings.
What I tested at Glass Lantern. In a separate test, I approved the exact booking amount once on my Mac. Apple’s Secure Enclave protected the key that signed that approval. My agent then completed the payment using a Stripe test card and the hotel sent the confirmation. My personal wallet stayed disconnected. If the agent can’t use an authorised payment method, I can finish the same booking through the hotel’s payment link.
Verified payment
The hotel checks payment with the payment system before marking the stay paid. Returning to the website, clicking Pay or seeing a chat reply isn’t proof on its own. Stripe’s checkout completion guide.
Private stay link
The hotel’s confirmation email includes a private link for this reservation. The guest or their chosen AI can use it until checkout to return to the same stay. It doesn’t authorise another payment.
OTA · Online travel agency
A booking website such as Booking.com. The pickup film starts with the hotel’s own confirmation email. To support an OTA booking, the hotel would need to match it to the right reservation and provide secure access. Text from an email alone is not proof of identity.
Ancillary revenue
What a hotel earns from extras guests choose alongside their room. A guest might buy a breakfast voucher, book a spa treatment or ask for a car from the airport. A paid upgrade adds to the room revenue itself, for example when a guest chooses a sea-view suite over the room they booked. See Duve’s examples of hotel upgrades and extras.
In the Glass Lantern demo, the guest added a ฿1,200 airport pickup to the same stay. That was a test payment.