Who will win AI-driven travel bookings, hotels or OTAs?
There is a strong belief that hotels will play a bigger role as AI-driven booking experiences develop. While OTAs have provided valuable services, AI-powered booking using accurate and structured hotel data offers a very different experience.
Using AI with real-time, reliable data can significantly improve how travelers search and select where to stay, creating a more efficient and personalized experience.
How can hotels improve visibility in AI search?
Hotels need to focus on making their data accessible and well structured so that AI systems can easily crawl and interpret it. This includes ensuring that hotel content is visible, organized and ready to be used by AI-driven search tools.
At the same time, it is critical that pricing, availability and inventory are connected directly into AI systems. This can be done through property management systems or other partners that ensure this data is pushed into AI engines in a consistent and consolidated way.
Why is trust the biggest barrier to AI bookings?
There is still hesitation when it comes to completing transactions fully through AI. Booking a hotel involves significant spend, and users want confidence before committing.
In the near term, it is expected that AI will handle research and discovery, while the final booking step will still take place on trusted platforms, such as a hotel’s own website, where users can review and confirm their purchase.
What are you most excited about for DirectBooker in the next year?
There is a focus on expanding across major AI booking engines, allowing users to experience AI-driven booking more directly.
As these integrations develop, users will begin to see how AI can support the booking process and how these experiences will evolve over time.
At the same time, there is recognition that AI booking flows still need to become more intuitive and natural. As AI platforms continue to develop, improvements in usability and discoverability are expected to accelerate quickly.
🎧 Listen to more interviews from the ITB 2026 series, where we speak with hospitality and travel tech leaders about the future of the industry.
If you want to understand how your brand stays visible and relevant as AI continues to shape hospitality technology, get in touch with Abode Worldwide.
