How hoteliers can adapt to survive the AI discovery shift

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing hotel discovery: Travelers are no longer being shown five blue links when they search for a property. Those long-coveted slots have lost relevance seemingly overnight.

When travelers ask a question in ChatGPT or Gemini, the engines provide more complete answers than a simple link might, limiting the need for additional research. Travelers don’t need to look at a hotelier’s website to get a baseline understanding of the property they’re considering booking.

But AI optimization goes beyond marketing, with AI search also becoming the primary battleground for hoteliers to protect direct bookings.

“People are no longer just going to see a list of companies and choose before they know anything about it,” said Brennen Bliss, CEO of Propellic, said during a recent webinar hosted by his company.

Pace of change

AI is prompting a rapid shift in travelers’ habits, “faster than any behavioral change before it,” according to Mike Coletta, senior manager of research and innovation for Phocuswright.

He cited Phocuswright’s “The AI Surge: Travel's Fastest Behavioral Shift in a Decade” report: For travel product research, general search engine use by U.S. travelers dropped from 51% in the second half of 2024 to 35% in the first half of 2026. Meanwhile, the use of AI platforms rose from 7% to 33%.

AI use for travel purposes has nearly doubled in a year at scale, he said: 33% of U.S. travelers used AI in the first half of 2025. That usage rose to 56% in the first half of 2026.

Robin Koetje, VP of IT for boutique hotel chain Staypineapple, said the industry needs to be prepared for rapid change.

“The traditional traveler journey of bouncing between 30+ different websites to compare prices, map locations and check reviews has the potential to collapse drastically,” Koetje said.

Why AI visibility matters

The message from experts is clear: Ignore AI visibility at your own risk.

When AI visibility is neglected, Bliss said Propellic has seen negative outcomes for hotels.

“The direct bookings turn into indirect bookings. If you're not visible, then that is going to be a problem because you're going to do whatever work you're doing, and you're going to lose the relationship through an OTA. You're going to lose the relationship with the person,” Bliss said on the webinar. “[You’re] also going to lose the commission.”

According to Amanda Moore, VP of digital experience for Preferred Travel Group, investing in AI could create real opportunities for hotels and particularly independent properties.

“AI can surface nuance around design, neighborhood, culinary identity, family experience and local character that traditional search didn’t always capture well,” Moore told PhocusWire.

That means AI can help travelers discover a property that’s actually the best fit regardless of size or scale, she said.

Koetje agreed: “AI discovery actually presents an opportunity to level the playing field against major chains and OTAs. If we maintain control of our data and ensure our direct booking channels are seamlessly integrated with these new AI interfaces, we can bypass the hefty OTA commissions and reclaim the direct guest relationship from the very first prompt.”

And it doesn’t hurt that the travelers who are using AI are “premium demand,” Coletta said. AI-using travelers tend to be younger and higher spenders than the average traveler. That only bolsters the business case for prioritizing company visibility in AI platforms.

But while a “zero click” world seems to be approaching with rapid behavioral shifts and sure risk if hotels fail to adapt, brands’ relationships with travelers have not yet been totally lost to AI.

Coletta said that half of U.S. travelers who saw AI answers in search in the first half of this year clicked through. 

“So travel, being a high-stakes purchase, seems to be maintaining a much healthier clickthrough rate than some other verticals,” Coletta said.

And the final referral rate doesn’t necessarily tell the full story, Moore said. 

While AI referral traffic is still lower (but rising), visitors are showing higher engagement, she added. And a traveler also might discover a hotel through AI and return later through branded search or direct traffic.

How to optimize for AI

Hotel companies are already taking steps to structure their online presence for AI recognition. 

Moore said Preferred Travel Group is creating a fact layer, including points such as room types, amenities and more, which will be regularly updated. That layer must remain consistent across the hotel’s website, booking engine, Google Business Profile and third-party listings. 

“The goal is to establish a single source of truth that can flow accurately across every channel,” Moore said. 

Preferred Travel Group is also creating additional content focused on the questions travelers are asking and what makes its independent hotels distinct.

Like Preferred Travel Group, Staypineapple is focused on structured consistency, and it is also prioritizing structured data and factual accuracy. 

“AI models don't care as much about our branding or marketing in the same way traditional search engines do; they want clean, easily digestible and verifiable data,” Koetje said.

Staypineapple is working to ensure that its core property attributes are exposed via APIs and accessible through its internal model context protocol. That way, AI agents and generative engines can parse through information to then show travelers.

What to avoid

The experts also pinpointed tactics that aren’t helping hotels surface in AI results.

Visibility isn’t just about generating more content, Moore said, noting that additional generic content is not a discovery strategy.

“If the copy could belong to any hotel in the destination, it gives AI no reason to recommend that property,” Moore said. “We’re focused instead on useful, original content grounded in what makes each property unique.”

Conflicting room details, policies or amenities listed on varying platforms also make it harder for AI to trust or recommend a hotel, Moore said.

Plus, traditional search engine optimization tactics such as keyword stuffing or ensuring visibility across OTAs are less effective, Koetje said. 

He added that leaving essential information in PDF format online or using unstructured page layouts breaks AI discovery.

“The info needs to be clear and instantly readable for the AIs to pick it up,” Koetje said.

It’s worth noting that optimizing for AI discovery isn’t a one-team job, and it can’t just be the digital team’s responsibility—the way discovery optimization may have been for travel companies in the past.

Marketing, public relations, revenue management, ecommerce, operations and distribution teams need to contribute to provide the information AI needs about a hotel to make recommendations.

“Hotels need to break down internal silos and manage their digital presence as one connected ecosystem,” Moore said. “Content, rates, amenities, policies, reviews and earned media must tell the same accurate and differentiated story.”