AI in hospitality marketing
AI in Hospitality. There is something perverse about the machines taking over a distinctly human industry. An industry that trains human connection and thrives on lived experiences. And yet, AI is the topic de jure, and for good reason. AI, LLMs, ML, and other acronyms that held no meaning just a few short years ago are permeating our industry and threatening, or maybe offering, to upend how guests experience our hospitality.
In our work at GCommerce, AI has evolved from being an unknown to a curiosity to being the single most discussed topic with our clients. Yet, there is no topic with more divergent opinions. I often ask audiences to rank their sentiment about AI on a scale from apprehension to excitement. Apprehension always wins out. So, what do we do as an industry, as a property, or as an individual in the face of this emerging technology? Are we bound to lose our jobs, or our souls, to the machines?
In this article, I’ll outline the current state of AI hospitality marketing. I’ll discuss current, proven tactics for maximizing performance and outline why LLMs have introduced new barriers to insight and audience engagement. Then, I’ll look to the future. What can we expect from AI in the next 3 - 5 years? How will our industry change, and what can we do to remain competitive? Finally, I’ll leave you with some perspective, and a reminder that ours is still a human endeavor.
AI in hospitality marketing is here to stay
I started GCommerce in 2002, and over the last 23 years, there have been notable and significant moments of disruption. Twenty-three years ago, a vocal minority of intransigent hoteliers argued that most people would never use their credit cards to make online purchases. In the following years, some argued that ad networks would be less effective than direct media buys, or that social media was a passing trend and not worthy of our attention. In each case, the emergent technology became dominant, and even the most strident naysayers were forced to evolve. Which brings us to today.
AI is here to stay. It can’t be legislated or managed away. The statistics on AI adoption leave no doubt; 43% of consumers now report using AI daily. Consumers and businesses alike are hooked, and it’s our job to meet them where we are. Or better yet, already be there when they arrive. To do so, we can’t simply “accept AI” and start a slow process of adoption. Advancements are happening too quickly.
Moore’s Law was famous for stating in 1975 that microprocessor power would double every two years…a statement that at the time seemed unimaginable. AI processing power is now doubling every seven months. That fact alone should scare you and compel you to take action. The bleeding edge of advancement today will be old news tomorrow. But there’s gold in the hills of innovation, and if you get there first, you can start to mine that value before your competitors arrive.
Brief summary of the current state of play
Travelers’ adoption of LLMs will change the landscape of hospitality digital marketing. Unlike previous emerging technologies in travel, there is no clear path to improved performance through ad placements. When Google launched, it was quickly accompanied by Google Ads. Facebook started as a novelty, but quickly evolved into a powerful marketing tool with the launch of its advertising platform. Even OTAs provided a clear path to monetization…pay the toll.
Today’s dominant LLMs don’t offer advertising models. Their “answers” often reference our hotels, or competitor hotels, but their methodology for ranking those choices is not published, and the techniques to improve visibility continue to shift.
The most vexing issue is that LLMs rarely direct visitors to a hotel’s website or social media channels, and they offer little to no internal reporting. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and other LLMs are the most important emergent channels in a generation, and we’re all flying blind.
I firmly believe that this reality will soon change; that marketers and business owners will have access to better tracking of AI’s impact on their customer journey. However, at this particular moment in time, we are left to review reputable consumer studies, do our own research, and focus on the essential elements that we know will drive performance.
GCommerce has conducted significant research across our portfolio. We’ve tested AI techniques, measured outcomes, ideated on new strategies, and coalesced around a long list of best practices. I encourage you to review our content…it’s free and it’s damn good.
AI marketing optimization starts now
If we agree that travelers are using AI to dream about and plan their travel, but advertising on those channels is not available, is it possible to improve our visibility?
The simple answer is yes.
Thanks to our ongoing studies, combined with those of reputable third parties, we have identified specific techniques that significantly impact AI visibility. For the purpose of this article, I’ll provide an abbreviated list of tactics; however, I encourage you to visit our insights page for more in-depth information.
- Conversational content - Create content that answers questions more comprehensively and naturally. Examples of this type of content includes guides on amenities, nearby attractions, or the history of your property.
- Social media content - Frequent posting, proper linking, and comment responses all impact a hotel’s relevance to LLMs.
- Local SEO - LLMs frequently reference local listing data on sites like Google My Business, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Bing Places. Manage your listing with care, and at a minimum, ensure that your name, address, phone number, and website are accurate and consistent.
- Review management - Reviews play a consistent role in AI placement. More positive reviews lead to more visibility. Better yet, responses to reviews has a real impact on LLM visibility.
- Schema - LLMs love structured data and content. Use Schema.org’s structured data markup for applicable information on your website.
- PR for the win - Brand strength and brand mentions are back. They continue to be referenced in studies as important in LLM rankings. Beyond working with a PR firm to secure brand mentions in high-profile publications, consider listing with your Chamber of Commerce, partnering with local organizations, and engaging bloggers for third-party mentions.
- Reddit - Reddit continues to be overindexed in LLM rankings, yet most hotels do not participate on the channel. Reddit offers organic opportunities to insert your property into a conversation, and relatively inexpensive paid opportunities to further appeal to the Reddit community.
Consider these tactics to be foundational. Not only will they have an impact on your visibility on LLMs today, they’ll position you for future innovations.
Near-future AI applications for travel marketing
Innovation often chases consumer sentiment, especially when the incentives are high. The travel industry offers $648b per year in incentives, quite the table stakes to encourage innovation. Couple that with the fact that consumers are clamoring for change…in a recent survey by Accenture, 66% report being dissatisfied with the planning options available today. Our industry is closing in on $1 trillion per year in revenue, and ⅔ of our customers hate buying from us. Unsustainable.
As such, I expect the travel marketing and distribution landscape to undergo the most disruptive half-decade of change in our lifetime.
Transformation will come in many forms; some unimaginable and some obvious. I’ll stay grounded for the purpose of this article and highlight three seemingly obvious developments.
1. How data will help you win with AI
GCommerce has evolved into a Hospitality Data Platform thanks to our proprietary process to extract, optimize, and then utilize performance marketing data in real time. To loosely quote Wu-Tang…data rules everything around us. And yet, when it comes to the impact of LLMs on the traveler journey, we lack reliable data and insights. That’s going to change in the not-so-distant future.
First, I expect that the platforms themselves will begin offering insight into brand visibility as a precursor to the rollout of an advertising model. For example, Google recently launched “Google AI Mode”, their new answer engine that uses Gemini and a more conversational approach. Traffic, impressions, and position from AI Mode have already been incorporated into Google Search Console, though they are lumped together with organic results with no way to differentiate. We hope that will change in the coming months. It’s no surprise that Google is the first LLM-powered platform to provide access to data, but expect the rest to follow suit soon.
Second, the search industry has long benefited from third-party reporting platforms like SEMRush and Ahrefs. They have long made a living measuring visibility and impact from digital channels. As traditional traffic sources cede ground to AI, I expect these platforms will innovate. They have the size, scale, and engineering talent to solve this massive data problem on behalf of their customers.
As more data becomes available, expect our understanding of the traditional customer journey to evolve. AI will play a role, but so too will existing channels. A comprehensive and data-driven view of the customer journey will uncover opportunities that the less-informed will miss.
2. Paying for visibility on AI search
Is there a way to advertise on ChatGPT? Can a hotel utilize sophisticated audience targeting, similar to what is available on other platforms, to identify high-intent travelers at the exact moment with the right message? The simple answer is no, at least not yet.
The dominant platforms of our time, Google and Meta, have used sophisticated advertising platforms to monetize their traffic. It’s easy to imagine ChatGPT and other platforms doing the same. However, building an ad platform that provides advertisers with the types of audience targeting, tracking, and management tools they expect is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor.
For example, consider Google Hotel Ads. Not only does the platform provide real utility to the user, but it is chock-full of hard-to-duplicate features for the hotel. They list live availability, rates, and inventory, which means that they have taken the time to map and build connectivity with our industry’s painfully fragmented ecosystem. They’ve learned how consumers shop specifically for travel, and provided the type of user and advertiser experience that caters to that behavior. NOT easy to replicate, which is why I consider Google to be one of the two mature and ubiquitous advertising platforms. While not a certainty, I believe that emerging AI platforms, including ChatGPT, will decide that the shortest path to monetization is to partner with one (or both) of the existing platforms.
As AI advertising opportunities become available, we’ll encourage hotels to be early adopters. When Google Ads launched, they were comparatively inexpensive before mass adoption drove up prices. The same was true for social media advertising. I expect the same dynamic will play out with AI advertising.
3. Travel SuperApp
As previously mentioned, our customers view the current travel planning process as tragically flawed. It's time-consuming, stressful, and fragmented. Consumers want a simpler and more personalized experience. In fact, 61% of consumers say personalized travel recommendations are somewhat or very important, with only 7% saying that they are not important. Cue the AI-powered travel Super App.
Deep in the Accenture study was a statistic that took my breath away:
“An overwhelming majority (97%) of travelers want a travel 'superapp.” They want something that will offer one-stop, integrated access to a whole range of travel-related services, including personalized, inspirational destination ideas, flights, dining, and everything in between.”
The company that creates and truly delivers on this promise will change the travel landscape forever.
Conclusion
Two passions comprise my professional identity:
- I’m a marketer. The emergence of new ways to connect with customers is exciting and invigorating.
- I’m a lifelong advocate for hospitality. I believe in the transformative power of humanity in our industry.
In practice, one cannot replace one with the other. No AI can provide a knowing and friendly smile to travel-weary parents as they check in for their family’s annual vacation pilgrimage. No AI can truly capture the stories and experiences that make a hotel special. However, AI can change the ways in which our customers dream about, plan, and purchase their travel. As such, it can change our behavior as marketers, helping us eliminate waste and focus our efforts.
Maybe, then, AI can help us eliminate our most impersonal and unemotional tasks and bring us closer to our true purpose in this industry. Serving our guests with genuine hospitality.
