AI Is Becoming the New Travel Agent. Is Your Hotel Even on Its Radar?

At this time of year, with travel and hospitality trade shows in full swing, many brands are publishing their annual reports and sharing fresh market data and one trend stands out loud and clear: the evolving behaviour of consumers. It may not come as a shock that AI is increasingly shaping how people plan their trips. What’s far more interesting is how quickly

this shift is accelerating and what that means for businesses in the hospitality sector.

AI: From Fringe Tool to Mainstream Trip PlannerA common refrain used to be whether travellers would use AI. These days, the question has shifted to how soon. In Asia, for example, up to 63 % of travellers reportedly use AI tools when planning their journey and over 43 % say they trust the recommendations they receive. While equivalent pan-European statistics are harder to pin down, anecdotal and industry-level indicators suggest that adoption rates are rising sharply across most markets.

The Stakes for Hoteliers: Beyond OTAs and ListingsFor years, the formula was relatively straightforward: list your property on OTAs and wait for bookings. But with AI-driven trip planning on the rise, those platforms no longer guarantee visibility. The algorithms that power AI travel assistants don’t simply replicate OTA listings they prioritise relevance, contextual value, and user intent in entirely new ways.

Which leads to the real question: are hoteliers ready? Are you equipped to appear in AI-driven searches and, more importantly, prepared to deliver the kind of emotional, immersive experience that travellers increasingly expect?

Because nowadays, people don’t just book a room, they book an experience. A memory.

What Hoteliers Should Focus On Now

·       Direct-to-customer relationships: Strengthen your brand’s own sales and communication channels to reduce overreliance on third-party platforms.

·       Rich, meaningful content: Invest in high-quality photos, storytelling descriptions, and local context the very types of data that AI tools use to surface relevant options.

·       Personalised services & experiences: Think experiential stays, tailored packages, unique local touches anything that turns a simple stay into a memorable story worth sharing.

·       Readiness for AI-driven visibility: Ensure that your website, booking engine, and property information are AI-friendly (structured data, fast loading, clear metadata).

In SummaryAI is no longer a “nice-to-have” for travellers it’s fast becoming a default. For hoteliers, ignoring this shift is no longer an option. Instead, it’s time to rethink the very core of how you position your property: not just as a room to book, but as a story, an experience, a memory.

Are you ready to adapt and win in this new era?