Not long ago, the main goal for any hospitality business looking to maximize online visibility was simple: get your website link among the top Google search results. But what about today?
NB: This is an article from Smartness, one of our Expert Partners
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Google is still important – but the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming how people search online and how they plan their travels.
According to a global study by Statista, four out of ten people already use AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity to plan their trips. The percentage varies by country (80% in China, 22% in Germany), but the trend is growing everywhere.
So what does this mean for you? Today, the most important question to stay visible online is: “Is my property showing up in AI-generated answers?”
That’s why, in this article, we’ll explore how AI search tools work and how you can make sure your property gets mentioned in their responses.
How Google has changed and how AI search engines work
To rank at the top of Google, it has always been necessary to follow the principles of SEO – Search Engine Optimization.
These rules help Google organize the web’s content into a structured list of results, letting users pick the most relevant link with a single click.
But as of March 2025, Google rolled out a new feature powered by generative AI: the AI overview.
In short: when someone performs a search, Google analyzes all available sources and generates a conversational-style answer that appears above the traditional blue links.
The result? Many users find the information they need directly in Google’s AI-generated summary, causing click-through rates on the standard links below to drop sharply.
How search works on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity
AI tools that were built from the ground up to be “conversational” – like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity – don’t display a list of links. Instead, they directly respond to the user’s question by generating a flowing answer that gathers and rewrites information from multiple sources: websites, platforms like Booking.com, reviews, articles, Google profiles, and more.
In other words, we’ve shifted from search engines to answer engines.
For example, if a traveler asks, “Can you recommend a pet-friendly hotel in Verona with free parking near the city center?”, the AI gathers relevant information from the web and returns a selection of accommodations, each with a short description that highlights the features most relevant to the user’s request.
