Be in the shortlist, not just the search results.

Inside the conversation, clearly marked as sponsored. They are shown only to logged-in adult users on the ad-supported plans, while Plus, Pro and Enterprise users remain ad-free, and OpenAI states that advertising does not influence the answers. You are buying presence beside a recommendation, never the recommendation itself.

Yes — travel and experiences was among the first verticals opened. Some adjacent offers are not, since restricted categories include alcohol, tobacco, financial services and gambling, which matters if your property markets a casino, a bar programme or a resort credit product. We check the current policy against your specific creative before anything runs.

Today, a small share — and we would rather say that plainly. Booking Holdings processed 325 million room nights in Q2 2026, up 5% year on year, with AI referrals still below 1%. The case for testing now is learning curve and cost of entry, not immediate volume.

Quickly, from a small base. AI referral traffic to hotel websites is just under 1% of total visits but grew more than 50% within weeks of a change to how ChatGPT includes outbound links, moving its share of organic-equivalent traffic from around 2% to roughly 3.1%. That trajectory is why we recommend building the groundwork now.

Often, which is exactly the problem worth managing. Only 38% of AI-assisted bookings go direct, 44% land on an OTA and 8% are completed inside the AI tool. With OTA commissions typically 15 to 20%, a campaign that shifts even part of that mix towards direct pays for itself well before it adds incremental demand.

They trust it to shortlist far more than to transact. An Expedia Group survey of more than 5,700 adults found 53% comfortable letting AI suggest travel options but only 8% comfortable completing a booking through it. That gap is the opportunity: win the shortlist, then make your own reservation path the easiest one to finish.

Short, factual and specific. The reader is mid-question about dates, location or amenities, so stating neighbourhood, room types, what is included and the direct-booking advantage beats atmospheric copy. We keep two variants live for comparison and avoid claims about rates or availability that the reservation system cannot honour.

Pacing follows the reservations calendar rather than spreading evenly. Investment concentrates on need dates and soft periods, eases back during compression when you would have filled anyway, and steps up only where pickup justifies it. Revenue management sees the plan before it goes live.

Partly through tagging, partly by asking. Assistant-sourced sessions are separated in analytics, the booking engine is connected wherever it allows, and the front desk adds one question at check-in. Together those turn guest anecdotes into a pattern you can act on rather than a story told at a meeting.

Consistent, verifiable information: room types and rates that match across your site and the platforms, accurate amenities and policies, current reviews, and pages that answer real trip-planning questions. Contradictions are the quickest way to be dropped from a shortlist, and they cost nothing but attention to fix.

Increasingly. OpenAI began testing in the US in February 2026, expanded to eight further markets, and announced a rollout to 31 European countries in August 2026. Availability and buying routes differ by market, so for international properties we confirm what is open where you operate before planning spend.

Enough to gather signal across a month or two of need dates without disturbing the routes that already fill rooms. We size it from your average daily rate, the commission you are trying to avoid and the dates you actually need help with, then set a clear bar this surface must clear to keep the money.

As an additional shortlist surface, not a replacement. Paid search and paid search and metasearch still carry the transactional demand, brand work still drives direct intent, and this surface reaches travellers earlier, while they are still describing the trip. It works best alongside hotel marketing that is already healthy.

You do. The advertiser account, billing, creative, tagging and landing pages are set up in your name from the start, so everything moves with you. We ask for a fair testing window because a new surface needs learning time, not because anything is locked.

A named senior strategist who also joins the monthly session, working with our AI search specialists. You will know who writes the creative and who controls the pacing, and you can reach them directly rather than through an anonymous queue.