How hotels should adapt when AI starts answering traveler queries for them

The useful part

Informa TechTarget | Payments Dive Restaurant Dive Retail Dive Explore our brands An Informa TechTarget Publication Search People also ask Loading questions... Search and websites still matter, but discovery is starting earlier, inside generative search. They're being interpreted by systems they don't control or see into, which creates a new kind of problem.

How it works

• From search results to synthesized answers Travelers are describing trips in terms of mood, purpose and experience, and artificial intelligence turns that into a shortlist almost instantly.
• As traveler queries become more specific, vague positioning gets filtered out.
• You're trying to influence how your hotel is interpreted across environments you can't see or measure.
• They build a picture of where a hotel appears, where it doesn't and how it's being described across different types of queries.
• They don't control the platforms themselves, but they give teams a clearer view of how they're being understood, and what to adjust in response.

What to take from it

Because if you're not understood there, you're not part of the decision at all. Hotels are no longer just competing for placement. That creates a feedback loop that didn't exist before.

Example or evidence

• Instead of browsing 10 options, a traveler is handed two or three that already feel right.
• For the first time, hotels are being judged in a system they can't observe.
• A hotel that tries to be everything to everyone becomes difficult to place.
• One that is clearly designed for a specific type of guest becomes much easier to match.

Details worth keeping

How hotels can adjust to the evolving AI search landscape As travelers increasingly use artificial intelligence for trip planning, hotels must consider the impacts on visibility and distribution strategy, Operto CEO Tim Major writes. 24, 2026 By Tim Major Share Copy link Email LinkedIn X/Twitter Facebook Print Add us on Google Travelers are describing trips in terms of mood, purpose and experience, and artificial intelligence turns that into a shortlist almost instantly, writes Operto CEO Tim Major. Getty Images Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated.

Related coverage

• Hospitality Net: Hotels risk being invisible to AI booking agents unless they address five readiness layers: machine-legible data, rate parity, reputation signals, specific positioning, and protocol presence.
• Hoteldive: Marriott, IHG and Wyndham have debuted conversational search tools as travelers increasingly use artificial intelligence for trip planning.
• Hospitality Net: A single-day audit of 824 AI hotel recommendations across six US luxury markets found just 23 properties captured half of all slots, and a demolished Miami hotel was still being recommended 108 days after...