Apollos Gause's View
I'd actually argue that the hotel website isn't becoming less important but it's job and function is changing. Discovery has moved to maps, OTAs, social and AI answers, generative AI, no question. But many of those channels build their picture of a hotel from what the hotel publishes about itself so when an AI Overview or ChatGPT describes a property, the quality of that answer depends heavily on how clear, consistent and well-structured the hotel's own site is. In this day and age where a zero-click journey is happening more frequently, the website matters less as a destination and more as the source of truth.
Today, the gaps that cost hotels' visibility are rarely visual and are more structured data that machines can't read, facts like fees and policies that differ from page to page, or a property described under different names across channels. Closing those gaps takes developers, designers and content working closely together and that's where the biggest opportunities sit.
The website also still owns two other moments: the final check before a guest books, and the commission-free conversion. That's why the handoff to the booking engine matters so much, and why a seamless path to booking deserves as much attention as any homepage.
So I'd reframe the question and say that it isn't website investment versus everything around it. It's broadening what we count as website investment: structured data, content operations, consistent information across every channel, and a frictionless booking experience, alongside great design. The hotels that win will be the ones whose web, SEO and content teams build for both guests and machines and not one or the other.
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