Users don’t behave differently in AI assistants than they do in traditional search (Google). In both cases, decisions follow the same pattern:
Discovery → consideration → transaction
NB: This is an article from mirai, one of our Expert Partners
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These are simply stages of the same funnel, with one goal: make a decision and follow through. Technology doesn’t change this behavior. This is how users behave.
Discovery: AI’s greatest strength
Today, AI assistants excel in the discovery phase or planning phase (also known as awareness), when users are still exploring options without a clear decision. Assistants already capture around 30% of searches at this stage, and that will only increase. The value proposition of AI, led by Gemini and ChatGPT, is undeniable.
Typical discovery queries look like:
- “I’m looking for a hotel in Mallorca for a trip with small kids, within walking distance to the beach”
- “I need a hotel in Madrid with an airport shuttle and breakfast at 6am for a business trip”
Thanks to AI, what used to be the slowest part of the journey has been compressed into hours or a few days at most. So much so that some argue the “new funnel” effectively starts at consideration. This doesn’t just improve the experience. It changes the pace of decision-making.
The efficiency of LLMs in synthesizing information from multiple sources generates highly polished responses and assists in reasoning to reach the best possible decision—far beyond what traditional Google searches deliver.
Why you’re not seeing this in bookings yet
This shift in user behavior is structural. Google itself points to a future, by 2030, where travel discovery and planning will be largely conversational, powered by AI.
And yet, many hotels are asking: “If discovery is changing so dramatically, why am I not seeing any impact on bookings or distribution channels, especially direct vs. OTAs?”
The answer is simple: the AI funnel is broken, or more accurately, incomplete.
Consideration: AI’s Achilles’ heel
AI’s greatest strength, discovery, becomes its biggest weakness where it matters most: when users move down the funnel.
Consideration is the moment when users stop seeking inspiration and start demanding certainty. This is where trust is built. And without trust, there is no booking. This is where the funnel breaks: AI is excellent at generating possibilities, but it struggles to deliver precise, reliable, and verifiable answers required for a purchase decision.
And this is not only critical for users. It’s also where most marketing investment happens. While discovery has historically been about inspiration and branding, consideration is where OTAs, metasearch engines, and hotels compete aggressively for high-intent demand.
The same queries would look something like this in the consideration phase:
