When we wrote this blog we realised that within a month it might already be outdated. Because developments in AI are moving incredibly fast. We have definitely passed the bend of the hockey-stick growth curve and are shooting straight up. High time to explain, in human language and without AI's help, how things stand right now.
By now we all know AI in the form of chat, where you can ask questions and have it write little texts for you. But major changes are underway, with new capabilities added: agentic AI and coding. And more and more is possible inside the chat function, such as integrations with parties like booking.com. What does this mean for searching and booking hotels?
Let’s stick with text writing for a moment, because we have a thing or two to say about that. These days you only have to open LinkedIn and the ‘I’m thrilled to announces’ come flying at you from all sides. From people that announce they will be speaking somewhere, to those who passed their driving test or finished a knitting course. Everyone is thrilled to announce something. Or long stretches of text following a set format starting with ‘Why I no longer believe in xyz?’ written by someone who previously couldn’t string three words together. If we may give one passionate piece of advice, it’s this: choose your own words! Stay authentic, write your texts yourself and have AI take a look at them if you must, but don’t blindly copy everything. It does more harm than good. There are even internet jokes (memes) about this behaviour these days – just so you know (including the em dash in the text, not AI-generated).
There is a major shift happening in how people search for things; more and more questions are being put to AI and this is causing unrest in the travel industry. Where Google has been a stable source of searchers and bookers for years, it’s now critical to adapt to these developments and not fall behind.
Here we distinguish between searching and booking. Starting with searching: it’s important that texts are written more in question-and-answer form (think Frequently Asked Questions / FAQs). And that AI can properly read the content of the website. This is done with so-called ‘Rich Search results’, LLM files and website optimisations. If this gets too technical, we can help you with this through our Digital Marketing services. Otherwise ask your marketing specialist or web developer, but this is something you really need to have in order!
Then there’s booking. There’s a lot going on here: parties offering services that surface hotel prices and availability inside AI. They throw around complicated terms like MCP servers (which is nothing more than a layer between the channel manager and AI). And as mentioned, booking.com can now be plugged in too, which many hotels fear. But there is a big nuance to all this. First, AI currently shows all hotels’ direct contact details in the chat, as in the image with this blog (this differs per AI). And on top of that, prices and availability are only shown in the chat when a user activates a specific connection, such as the one with booking.com, themselves in the settings. This is buried fairly deep, and on many chatbots it’s only available with a paid subscription. The result: many people use AI to search, but almost no bookings come out of it…
Google is also striking back, integrating Gemini AI into the trusted search results to make sure it remains a source of searchers and bookers. And it has the advantage that it already has a reliable feed of reviews, prices and availability.
The most important thing right now is to make sure your website is well found by AI. Don’t worry too much about bookability yet, but keep an eye on it. Because changes are coming fast. It’s possible that displaying prices and availability inside AI will soon work without users having to activate a connection themselves. Or that in time even a booking can be completed there.
Guest & Co will respond to all of this. We’ll also be writing a new blog soon about agentic AI and coding, where AI takes tasks off our hands, such as administrative work or building a simple website in the blink of an eye. So Stay tuned!
