Why It’s Time For Lodging Brands To Adapt To Incoming AI Discoverability Dynamics

Although the tourism industry isn’t out of the woods yet with a potential recession ahead, its progress in the past four years has been positive. The international hospitality industry has slowly recovered from the long-winded effects of the pandemic — UN Tourism reported that last year, the industry reached 88% of pre-pandemic levels.

As the sector continues to look for stability, independent lodging brands are quickly evolving with tech by their side: AI discoverability dynamics are the next frontier to tackle. As consumers increasingly lean on AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to undertake personal and work tasks, they’re also doing so to plan their next holiday — 41% of people surveyed by Oliver Wyman recently confirmed this.

The current trip-planning process is quite fragmented, involving endless hours of searching for the most suitable hotels, tourist spots, restaurants, and fun activities, while accounting for preferences and restrictions. To avoid this hassle, people are taking the smart shortcut of asking AI to plan their trips — the tech isn’t fully there, but giants like Google are making sure to speed up its development.

The good news is that these changes are beneficial for lodging brands looking to increase their direct bookings. Last year, they increased by 50%, meaning one-third of travelers chose to skip online travel agencies (OTAs) and opted to book directly. And AI searches could boost this opportunity for independent lodging brands even more.

The Future of Searches with AI-First Engines

Not very long ago, both hotels and independent brands made sure to optimize their website’s SEO to feature at the top of search engines and meta searches. However, it was difficult to beat OTAs at their own game.

This is still the reality today, but it’s quickly changing. The advent of AI searches is redefining discoverability — ranking well is necessary but not sufficient. Content that’s relevant to users is increasingly more important for “answer engines”.

By seeing the specificity of AI results thanks to its natural language processing capabilities, people are beginning to demand the same when they’re browsing the web to plan their holidays. They want granular, hyper-specific results that cater to their needs, restrictions, preferences, and more, without having to filter this information manually.

As a result, Google’s Gemini, Perplexity, SearchGPT, and other AI search engines are working to improve their travel planning capabilities.

For example, in just one paragraph, travelers will be able to write their available dates, the kind of lodging they’re looking for — cozy, with a view, affordable, family-friendly, pet-friendly — the activities they like, and their restrictions. Then, an AI-first engine will find them their ideal accommodation options, including ones bookable directly.

As such, lodging brands can shine through with their special offerings and personalized experiences, provided they know how to make it into AI searches.

The Next Big Thing: AI Travel Companions

With search engines being increasingly AI-optimized, results will deliver hyper-personalization. Google has taken the lead, recently unveiling Gemini’s ability to become a travel prep assistant. While fully AI-enabled travel searches won’t happen overnight, recent advancements like OpenAI’s preview of its o1 reasoning model are a clear step in this direction.

Gemini promises to go above and beyond other AI-first search engines by using personal data retrieved from Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, and other Google tools, mixed with inventory availability from Google Flights, Hotels, and Vacation Rentals. This way, it will gauge availability, preferences, and the best scheduling options in no time.

Google’s announcement opened the door to the many possibilities of AI and travel planning: This technology is set to become a travel companion. For instance, in the coming years, people will need to do minimal planning on their own, as AI will make sure to stay on top of their bookings, reservations, tickets, and anything else during their trip. Gemini will connect multiple data sources to stay updated on any cancellations or delays, keeping travelers informed without major efforts on their part.

AI will also be able to offer personalized experiences even when people aren’t looking to travel. Did their favorite destination open a new boutique hotel? Is a lodging brand they previously booked with offering discounted prices? Travelers will be notified by their preferred AI travel companion about these opportunities so they’re persuaded to plan their next holiday soon.

How Lodging Brands Can Keep Up

For lodging brands to stay ahead of these changes, they must start appealing to AI search engines with features like targeted landing pages, content creation, and AI search optimization.

To start, they can lean on AI and companies specializing in AI search optimization to generate targeted landing pages. These pages represent the audience brands are trying to attract to their properties, organically drawing them in through Generative Search Engines. It’s not about keyword stuffing anymore, but semantic proximity.

Brands can up their Generative Search Engine game by creating relevant content that targets the very specific audience they wish to attract. Think of each post as personalized letters that are as unique as the guests they want to draw. Are you offering family-friendly accommodation? Write a blog post discussing the best family adventures around your lodgings for a family of four with a toddler and a pet. Does your brand focus on honeymoon destinations? Write about the best activities for young newlyweds flying in for two days who are particularly interested in the city’s cultural heritage.

Brands can also optimize their website beyond semantic proximity. A recent study by Princeton University, Georgia Tech, Allen Institute for AI, and IIT Delhi on optimizing AI search discoverability found ways to democratize searches on engines like Perplexity and Bing Chat. They managed to boost general visibility by 40% and increase the discoverability of smaller-ranked websites by 115% by citing more sources and adding more quotations and statistics to the websites they tested on — all things AI can help with.

As AI advances, so do the tools for lodging brands to adapt to these new discoverability dynamics. Emerging companies are starting to offer these AI-optimization services for brands to effortlessly boost their traffic and direct bookings.

With the coming opportunities being developed by giants like Google, lodging brands have the chance to go beyond OTAs and succeed on their own through AI optimization. Traveler demands are shifting, and as search engines respond, so too should brands in order to stay ahead of the curve in discoverability and enhanced engagement.

Sjoerd Martens
Partner & Chief Client Officer, Publicize
hostAI