Last month, we analyzed search results from Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity for "best hotels in Miami." Not a single hotel brand appeared in the top 10 results. Meanwhile, 50% of travelers plan to use AI for leisure travel within the next 12 months.
The hospitality search experience has undergone a quiet revolution. Where travelers once Googled their way to vacation options, many now turn to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Copilot, and other “agentic” tools to dream, plan, and book. With tools like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), users receive detailed answers, trip summaries, and personalized insights based on conversational prompts.
Let’s be real: if revenue management were a reality show, it would definitely be Squid Game, minus the violence, hopefully. But let’s break it down: the high-stakes drama, the tense moments, and the sense of “I swear this is going to ruin my entire month if I don’t get this right.”
More and more, brands are starting to get the chatbot “thing” right. AI is improving, and customers are realizing that a chatbot can be a great first stop for getting quick answers or resolving questions. After all, if you have a question, don’t you want it answered now?
A recent article puts Agentic AI in perspective. The author wrote: Would you hire an electrician to fix your toilet? Of course not. Yet that’s exactly what hospitality is doing when we rely on general-purpose AI to solve industry-specific problems. You end up with the wrong tool solving the wrong problems, and the results show it.
For event planners, speed and convenience is everything. When they’re considering venue space, they need immediate answers and a smooth, hassle-free experience. Venues that can provide this quickly often find themselves with a significant competitive edge.
In today’s digital-first travel landscape, your hotel’s social media presence is more than just a marketing tool—it’s an extension of your guest experience. A well-curated feed can inspire wanderlust, build brand loyalty, and even drive direct bookings. But with so many content options, what should you actually be posting?
I used to treat ADR and RevPAR as gospel—twin pillars holding up the temple of “successful” hotel management. Then a six‑year‑old shuffled into our lobby, laced his fingers through Santa’s glove, and whispered that we were the only place he’d get to meet the Big Guy this year. In that moment another KPI muscled its way onto my dashboard: emotional equity.
Look, I love this industry. I’ve spent decades helping hotel tech companies break through the noise. But there’s one thing we have to talk about: the pitch slap epidemic.
Chain hotel websites are at risk. Tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini can now summarize accommodation options instantly, bypassing brand.com sites in favor of fast, direct answers and eliminating the need for potential guests to click through a dozen links.
The other night, my 10-year-old son Haydo came to me, wide-eyed, and said: "Dad… a girl told me she loves me. What do I say?"
Jeff Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon, shared a fascinating leadership story on the Lex Fridman Podcast about how he wanted to ensure his customers received the best customer experience. In Amazon’s early days, Bezos noticed a discrepancy between the “wait times” the customer support department was reporting and the feedback customers shared. The support team reported wait times of less than 60 seconds, but customers told a different story. Instead of asking for more data, Bezos took matters into his own hands. He picked up the phone during a meeting with the leadership team and called Amazon’s customer service number himself.
If you’ve ever tried to compare marketing performance across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Google, and TikTok, you’ve likely noticed something puzzling: the numbers don’t always line up. A campaign that looks stellar on one channel might seem average on another, because not all metrics are created equal.
People love to share their lives online, and just as much, they enjoy watching the lives of others. Think about how many times a day the average person checks social media, watches stories, or shares a post of their own. We pay attention to what people say in the digital space, from their jaw-dropping sunset pics to scathing reviews, to that poor pet whose face is broadcast on social media every morning for the world to see. For the hotel industry, this is an incredible opportunity to showcase your property through the eyes of your guests.
Is a lodge just a rustic hotel? Can the same tools and strategies apply to both?
When you have your customer’s confidence, the opportunity to create an excellent customer experience dramatically improves. That confidence comes from consistency. The customer knows what to expect, even if any problems or issues arise. They know you’ll take care of them.
Let me paint a painfully familiar picture: We’ve got hotels who…
As AI revolutionizes how people plan and book travel online, the algorithms determining which content surfaces in AI-generated summaries are beginning to mirror the dynamics of digital advertising. This shift, however, will lead to a future where advertising plays a less dominant role than ever before.
Comprising Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – conveniently listed in alphabetical order from north to south – the Baltic region is a captivating corner of Northern Europe to the east of the Baltic Sea, where medieval towns, pristine coastlines and vibrant cultural scenes converge.
When group leads start to dry up, most hotel teams scramble to tweak their RFP process, refresh their offers, or blame seasonality. But what if the real problem isn’t internal … it’s invisible?