From Search Box to Travel Advisor: IHG’s Kim Smith on the Next Phase of AI Booking

IHG’s launch of AI-powered conversational search on IHG.com and the IHG One Rewards app marks a significant step in the hotel group’s push to reshape how guests discover and book stays. Rather than relying on destinations, dates and filters alone, travelers can now describe what they want in natural language and receive recommendations based on IHG’s hotel data, availability, pricing and guest preferences. We spoke with Kim Smith, Senior Vice President, Digital & Direct Channels at IHG Hotels & Resorts, about what prompted the move, what the company hopes to learn from the beta, how hotels need to prepare for AI-driven discovery, and where conversational search could ultimately lead.

What change in traveler behavior convinced IHG that conversational search had become necessary, and why was this the right moment to launch it?

The rise of conversational and AI-assisted travel planning was an important signal for us. We're seeing more guests move beyond traditional keyword searches and describe what they're actually trying to accomplish. Instead of searching for "hotel in Paris," they're asking things like, "Where should I stay in Paris for a long weekend with my family?" or "What IHG hotel is best for a business trip near Times Square?"

At the same time, more travelers are using AI tools to research destinations, compare options, and narrow down choices before they ever visit a travel or hotel website. We didn’t want to limit guests into traditional search boxes and believed that bringing that conversational experience directly into IHG.com and the IHG One Rewards app was the right course. We also have the content, hotel data, and loyalty ecosystem in place to deliver something genuinely useful to our guests.

What originally instigated the project, and which internal teams and external technology partners were involved? Did IHG work directly with OpenAI, or through another technology provider?

As consumer search behavior started shifting toward AI-powered and conversational experiences, we saw an opportunity to simplify one of the hardest parts of travel: turning inspiration into a booking. 

The project brought together IHG teams across digital, engineering, data, loyalty, product, and hotel content. We also partnered with Google to bring this experience to life. This effort is part of a broader strategy to strengthen how guests discover IHG hotels, whether they're searching on our own channels or through emerging AI-powered platforms. We continue to work closely with a range of technology partners as we test, learn, and evolve the experience. 

Is IHG’s conversational search primarily a new interface for finding hotels, or the first step towards a fundamentally different booking journey?

Today, conversational search is a more intuitive way for guests to discover hotels, but we believe it's also an early step toward a fundamentally different booking journey. Today, guests can ask questions like, "I'm going to New York City November 27-30 and have 80,000 points. Which hotels are best for Black Friday shopping?" and quickly receive relevant recommendations.

Over time, we see opportunities to make those recommendations more personal by combining what we know about our hotels with what we know about our guests. For example, if a guest is traveling on that New York shopping trip, we would consider factors such as their preferred brands, past stay history, loyalty status, and preferences like booking with points or cash. If they typically stay at InterContinental properties, prefer rooms near the elevator, and often travel with family, we can surface options that reflect those preferences. Because we also have rich hotel content, guests can ask detailed questions about things like pet policies, parking, club lounge access, or family-friendly amenities and receive answers grounded in trusted property information. Longer term, we see opportunities to further explore agentic booking capabilities that make the full booking experience even more seamless.

How does IHG turn an open-ended guest request into a relevant and reliable hotel recommendation?

Our goal is simple: help guests find the right stay with confidence. If someone asks "Where should I stay to see the cherry blossoms in DC?", we combine that intent with structured, trusted IHG data, including hotel attributes, amenities, guest reviews, real-time availability, pricing, and location information to generate relevant recommendations.

What's important is that the recommendations aren't based on generic internet content. They're grounded in verified information about our hotels. Travel decisions carry more weight than many other online purchases, so reliability matters. We want guests to understand why a hotel was recommended and feel confident they're choosing the right stay for their trip.

What is IHG hoping to learn from the beta, and which measures will determine whether conversational search is successful?

We're taking a deliberate test-and-learn approach. The beta helps us understand how guests naturally describe travel needs, where conversational experiences reduce friction, and where we need to make recommendations more useful. One thing we've already learned is that guests often start with a trip purpose rather than a destination. They search for things like "a family ski trip" or "a quiet beach escape," which reinforces the value of a conversational experience. As with any emerging AI capability, we expect to refine the experience based on real guest behavior and feedback.

Success ultimately comes down to whether guests can find the right hotel faster and with greater confidence. We're closely watching engagement, conversion, satisfaction, and overall adoption to understand where the experience is creating real value.

What does becoming “AI-search ready” mean for IHG’s hotels, and will individual properties need to manage their content differently?

Being AI-search ready starts with having rich, accurate, and structured content. When someone searches, "Which hotel has EV charging, family suites, and is walking distance to downtown attractions?" AI systems need detailed information to make that match. If that information isn't available or isn't structured properly, the hotel becomes harder to discover. That's why we're rolling out a new AI-optimized hotel content platform that makes it easier for hotels to manage richer content, including amenities, meeting space, local attractions, videos, and property-specific experiences. The more complete and accurate that content is, the better positioned a hotel will be across both IHG channels and third-party AI-powered discovery platforms.

How does IHG decide which AI use cases should move from experimentation into scaled production across the organisation?

We take a practical, guest-first approach. We start with real problems that guests or hotel owners are trying to solve, test potential solutions in a controlled environment, and then evaluate both adoption and business impact. We aren't interested in deploying AI for AI’s sake.

For conversational search, the question isn't whether the technology works. It's whether it helps guests find the right hotel faster, reduces friction in the booking journey, and creates measurable value for our hotels and IHG. When we see evidence of those outcomes, that's when we move from experimentation to scale.

Looking three years ahead, how do you expect AI to change hotel discovery, direct booking and IHG’s relationship with the guest?

Three years from now, I expect hotel discovery and booking to feel much more personalized, natural, and proactive than it does today. Guests will increasingly describe what they're trying to accomplish rather than search through lists of hotels. AI will help narrow choices, surface more relevant recommendations, and make booking feel less transactional and more like receiving guidance from a trusted travel advisor. We also see significant potential in agentic experiences that can assist with planning, booking, and managing travel on a guest's behalf.

At the same time, some things won't change. Travelers will continue to value trusted brands, meaningful loyalty programs, and great stays. Hospitality is, and will remain, a people business. Our focus is using technology to remove friction and help our hotel teams spend more time doing what matters most: creating memorable live experiences for guests.

Hospitality Net perspective

The bigger question is where conversational search ends and agentic booking begins. If travelers increasingly ask an AI to find, compare and eventually book the right hotel on their behalf, hotel companies will need to compete not only for the guest’s attention, but also for the agent’s recommendation. IHG’s beta offers an early glimpse of that transition, and of a booking landscape in which structured content, first-party data and direct connectivity may matter as much as the traditional search page.