AI is shaping the way travellers search for and choose accommodation, prompting hotels to rethink their digital marketing strategies for years.
For more than two decades, hotel visibility has relied primarily on search engine optimisation (SEO) and the use of keywords related to specific destinations. Today, however, the increasing use of AI tools, such as ChatGPT and other digital assistants are gradually changing the way consumers plan their trips.
Rather than simply searching for a destination or hotel, travellers are now describing in detail the sort of holiday they want, asking for recommendations based on the atmosphere, facilities, location of the property, room type, and even the overall travel style they are looking for.
This shift is prompting hoteliers to invest more in creating insightful and high-quality content that clearly showcases the experience they offer their guests.
According to hospitality market analysts, artificial intelligence systems are more likely to recommend a hotel when they can accurately understand its features, services, target audience and the factors that set it apart from the competition.
At the same time, this development presents new challenges for smaller and independent hospitality businesses. Large hotel groups generally have more resources to invest in technology, content management and digital marketing, which enables them to adapt more quickly to new market demands.
Conversely, smaller accommodation providers may struggle to gain digital visibility if the information they have online is not sufficiently structured or detailed to be effectively utilised by artificial intelligence tools.
Experts point out that a hotel’s visibility in AI system responses increasingly depends on the quality of its descriptions, the consistency of the information displayed across different platforms, customer reviews and its overall digital image.
Although traditional search engines still play an important role, artificial intelligence has now been introduced as a further stage in the travel service selection process, offering users more personalised suggestions.
For the hotel industry, this development marks a significant shift: success no longer depends solely on a high ranking in search results, but also on whether a property can be “understood” by artificial intelligence systems that are increasingly influencing travellers’ decisions.
Source: tourismtoday.gr