As we head into 2026, the hotel commercial landscape is being reshaped by a set of changes that are less “future speculation” and more “already underway.” In a recent conversation, Pablo Delgado of mirai, one of our Expert Partners, outlined three predictions that matter directly to hotel general managers and commercial leaders: who controls demand, how guests want to interact, and what “booking” could look like if AI agents become mainstream. Here’s what these shifts mean – and what you can do now to avoid being caught flat-footed.
This is the full interview and we have summarised some of the key points below.
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1) The gatekeepers are changing: from “Google-first” to “dual discovery”
For years, Google has been the primary gateway to travel discovery. That won’t disappear – but 2026 is likely to be the first year where Google faces a true co-equal competitor in consumer discovery: generative AI assistants. Delgado’s view is that the market will consolidate around two dominant ecosystems – ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini – because the economics of training and operating frontier models will squeeze out smaller generalist competitors.
For hotels, the immediate implication is strategic uncertainty. In Google’s world, you broadly know the rules: SEO, metasearch, paid placements, hotel ads. In the AI assistant world, organic visibility is still opaque, and monetization models are evolving. The practical guidance: budget for experimentation. If your organization is rigid with annual planning, reserve a test “pocket” now so you’re not forced to delay action when new paid placements arrive mid-year. Early movers rarely win because they’re smarter; they win because they’re ready.
2) Guests will expect conversational booking journeys, not website “hunting”
Consumer behavior is shifting from keyword search to natural language requests. People increasingly want to say: “We’re traveling to Boston in July with two kids, want an outdoor day, and need a hotel with a pool and parking,” rather than search “hotels Boston” and filter endlessly. That’s the expectation AI has trained into users – speed, precision, and dialogue.
Hotels already offer conversation through the contact center, but many guests do not want to call. The opportunity in 2026 is to expand conversational interfaces across channels: web chat, WhatsApp, social messaging, even AI-assisted voice. This is not only about convenience; it’s about conversion. A large share of “bounce” is not lack of intent – it’s unanswered questions. Conversational layers reduce friction, capture intent, and create a persistent thread you can follow up on (especially in messaging environments).
3) Agentic AI is coming: prepare for a world where “the buyer” is software
Agentic AI – tools that can take action on a user’s behalf – is moving from buzzword to build cycle. The open question is how deeply it will be adopted in travel and whether major platforms will allow third-party agents to transact freely. Large intermediaries and marketplaces may resist for obvious reasons. But even partial adoption matters: an agent might shortlist, compare, and recommend – then push the guest to book direct or via an OTA if your direct path isn’t agent-friendly.
Delgado’s operational recommendation is clear: start preparing your connectivity layer so AI assistants can retrieve accurate, real-time information and, eventually, initiate transactions. In practice, that means getting serious about APIs, structured content, and emerging standards that connect AI tools to your systems. Whether or not full “AI booking” arrives in 2026, building readiness now protects you from margin leakage later.
The commercial takeaway
None of this requires panic. Your location, reputation, and value proposition still matter. But the competitive gap will widen between hotels that monitor, test, and adapt – and those that wait for “certainty.” In 2026, the safest position is not perfect execution; it’s operational readiness and controlled experimentation across discovery, conversation, and connectivity.
