A typical hotel search on Google Travel these days
– Thats about 8% of the page asigned to organic listings.
– What % of customers know or care what is sponsored vs organic?
– There are 54 other options. 1 direct, 53 OTAs, resellers and affiliates.
– That’s some convenient ‘auction pressure’ if you’re Google.
– Google Travel is sill probably the easiest way to shop hotel rooms if you want the choice.
What would I do if I was an AI Agent?
First, I’d sigh and shake my head at what the humans have built.
Then I’d think let me take those 54 options and immediately compress to 3-5 to show to my human, because my human still believes they can make better decisions than me.
1. Their favorite brand (maybe because of loyalty rewards), along with a net net price with loyalty benefits factored in.
2. Direct to hotel option
3. Cheapest (after filtering fees, taxes, loyalty points, cashback etc)
4. Maybe 1 or 2 with upgrades, offers or unique options.
The other 50 – not even getting a mention. Vanished.
Up to this point, Google has been open for everyone to play. Pretty soon, that might not be the case. Add value or be gone.
Whats your plan if you are OTA 5-500 in this world and are selling the exact same inventory as everybody else?
