Key takeaways from Google I/O 2025 for hotel marketers
It was a busy week for Google. Along with Google Marketing Live on Wednesday, Google I/O took place this week, and between the two, they announced an incredible list of updates (100+ between the two events!). While Google Marketing Live centered around product updates associated with its ad campaigns and platforms, Google I/O focused on updates more applicable to organic search marketing.
It’s such an incredible moment in history for organic search. Generative AI platforms are pushing change across the industry, and it has big implications for hotel organic search marketing. Here are our top takeaways for hotels from Google’s I/O 2025.
- AI Mode rolling out to everyone in the US
As of May 20th, 2025, Google announced that its AI Mode search experience is rolling out to everyone in the US. It was previously just available to those who opted in via Search Labs. Our team has been deep in testing mode with this new search experience and will be releasing a study soon. Unfortunately, it has been discovered that there is currently no referral tracking in analytics from AI Mode, and this traffic is being tracked as direct traffic. This means AI Mode traffic is currently untrackable. Google recently announced that AI Mode reporting will be coming to Search Console, although we still don’t know how it will show. As usage of this search experience increases, it will most likely mean a continued decline in organic search traffic to hotel websites. We’re having to let go of even more data as it’s taken away from us and lean into AI, as well as a deeper understanding, to ensure our ads are visible where our audience spends their time. Also noteworthy is that Google announced ads are coming to AI Mode and AI overviews during Google Marketing Live.
- Agentic capabilities in AI Mode
Google announced it’s bringing agentic capabilities to AI Mode, starting with the ability to let the agent search out, compare shop between sites, and present site options to book your event ticket. How? They are partnering with top ticket broker sites like StubHub to provide a seamless experience. They are starting with event tickets but plan to roll this out to restaurant reservations and local appointments. It’s only a matter of time before it hits the hotel industry. History shows that Google leans into partnerships with top industry companies that can support the tech. Alexa partnered with Kayak early on for voice search. Recently, Selfbook and Perplexity announced a partnership to enable booking directly on the platform - it’s available for hotels using the Selfbook booking engine. This gave us hope for independent hotels and the battle for direct bookings. We can only hope that other booking engine providers will lead this charge. Chances are, sites like Kayak or OTAs will step up to be the first.
- Pushing boundaries of Google Search with Google Lens
Google Lens now offers live search capabilities. Examples shown? Being mid-project and need guidance on what the next steps should be in the process. Google returns multi-modal results from video, forms, blogs, and more. In Google Marketing Live they hinted at how much image-based search shows purchase intent. Hoteliers need to be thinking about expanding content and topical relevance, from enhancing blogs to including video and continuing to produce stunning visual assets. Additionally, focusing on structured markup of all site components will help ensure they are more easily found in Google’s entity mapping.
- AI Mode shopping experience
Shopping/ecommerce always tends to be a step ahead with search features. Google announced a new AI-driven shopping experience that allows shoppers to virtually try on clothes, engage with AI to filter and find the best items, and even check out and purchase them using Google Pay. It’s pretty wild that many booking engine providers still don’t accept mobile wallets like Google and Apple Pay. The future is hinting towards a world where AI agents book our hotel rooms for us, but right now it seems like only via platforms that integrate into this type of ecommerce technology space.
- AI Mode gets even more personal with results
Google’s algorithm has incorporated AI for years with its RankBrain technology. Coupled with its algorithm, it’s focused on incorporating your search history, location and more into providing personalized results. AI Mode takes this a step further. It allows you to opt in to connect it to other Google apps, like Gmail. Using structured data, it can view your email content and make personalized results using the data. Google’s example, “you can get suggestions for events while you’re in town….based on your flight and hotel confirmations” in your inbox. Mind blown. The breadth of 1st party data that Google will be able to tap into will be monumental in helping you reach an even more targeted audience using AI. We’ve seen the power of leaning into Meta (Facebook/Instagram)’s AI audiences over the years, now it looks like Google is stepping up the game to provide even more relevant, personalized, and qualified results for each user.
These are just a handful of takeaways from an incredibly packed Google I/O 2025. They also announced a huge roll out of product features from some mind-bending AI video and image capabilities, Google Meet live translation (English/Spanish only to start), and so much more. You can check out the full keynote recordings here. It’s truly an exciting time for the world of digital marketing. It’s rapidly changing and we’re excited to explore the new frontier for digital marketing for hotels.
