Y2K never had the injurious impact many thought it would, but it was around the turn of the century when hoteliers stumbled and let the proverbial barbarians through the gate, causing an irreversible way in which customers book travel.
For more than two decades, hoteliers have fought an uphill battle against digital giants that promised exposure but delivered dependence. First came the online travel agencies, or OTAs, Expedia, Booking.com, Google Travel and the like, convincing hotels that partnership meant progress. Search engines exacerbated it. Now, a new force has entered the arena: natural language.
Ask ChatGPT: “Find me a boutique hotel in Charleston,” and the results don’t come from a neutral marketplace. They come from the data and partnerships of whoever integrated first—usually the biggest players, with the deepest pockets. It’s a reality that Brad Brewer, founder of Brewer Digital Marketing and Agentic Hospitality, is determined to change.
Brewer is a former web architect turned AI strategist and his aim now is to shape how hotels communicate online and interact with artificial intelligence. His company builds the underlying infrastructure connecting hotel data and content to search engines and AI platforms. He also contributed to Schema. org, the framework Google would later adopt to help the internet understand products, pricing and offers in a structured, machine-readable format. In 2015, his work was featured in the Semantic Technology Institute at the University of Innsbruck, where students used his Schema.org generator to create real-world hospitality applications—an early academic validation of his structured data technology.
Brewer is now taking on his next challenge with gusto: defending hotel independence. In his corner are tech innovators who believe guest relationships and data ownership belong to the people who actually host the guests. Opposite him are the likes of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and other digital titans of travel. They’re not wearing hotel uniforms; they’re donning algorithms. Together, they represent the new gatekeepers of discovery—the code that determines what travelers see, what they pay and who profits.
FAIR AND TRANSPARENT
Brewer’s concern is simple: OpenAI’s partnerships with OTAs could recreate the same dependency cycle that once defined online travel. Without safeguards, such as Europe’s Digital Markets Act, he warns that hotels will again pay for visibility in AI-driven recommendations. “If AI assistants become the new travel agents—and they already are—independent hotels could disappear from AI search results entirely,” Brewer said.
It’s why Brewer created Agentic Hospitality’s Travel Operating System (TravelOS MCP), which connects hotels directly to AI ecosystems without relying on intermediaries. It lets hotels feed real-time rates content and availability into natural language assistants, such as ChatGPT, ensuring visibility and fair competition. Hotels pay a flat licensing fee rather than ongoing commissions—a model Brewer said returns control to the people running the properties. “Hotels need to embed themselves directly into TravelOS MCP to ensure visibility and fair competition,” he said. “Otherwise, they’ll face the same fate they did in the early 2000s: dependence on middlemen who control data, ranking and guest access.”
BUILDING THE AI SUPERHIGHWAY
Altman isn’t trying to destroy the hotel industry; he’s trying to rebuild the internet through natural language. In his world, AI is the new interface for everything—search, commerce and travel. Soon, travelers won’t browse websites or apps; they’ll simply converse with an assistant that plans, books and personalizes every trip. It’s frictionless and intelligent, but only for those with access to the system’s pipelines. “To make that experience seamless, AI has to decide which hotels—and which offers—make the cut,” Brewer said. “Right now, that data still flows through the same gatekeepers controlling availability and rates.”
Altman calls OpenAI’s model neutral. Brewer disagrees, saying its ecosystem favors those who integrate first—usually the giants with the deepest pockets. It’s an existential moment, Brewer argued. “If that’s the future,” he said, “independent hotels don’t stand a chance.”
Brewer’s approach is a parry of sorts that seeks to level the playing field through an open infrastructure that makes hotel data portable and accessible across AI ecosystems—not locked inside one platform— allowing hotels to be found, understood and booked directly without gatekeepers or control from big tech. It also empowers suppliers: hotels maintain control of their digital presence in the AI era and connect directly to assistants through open protocols, like TravelOS MCP, cutting out unnecessary intermediaries. Last, decentralized distribution. Rather than a single assistant deciding outcomes, Brewer envisions a network of agentic, interoperable hotel endpoints where AI works for the hotelier, not the middleman, and guests own their data while shedding loyalty overload.
REDEFINING THE RULES
Brewer’s fight isn’t over market share; it’s a battle over who shapes the digital marketplace itself. Altman’s north star is efficiency—fewer clicks, greater personalization, more predictive power. In Altman’s model, control naturally flows upward toward a few powerful AI ecosystems that mediate every interaction between brands and consumers. It’s clean. It’s convenient. But it’s centralized.
Brewer’s north star is equity— open data, fair discovery and independent ownership. In this countermovement, Brewer foresees a future where natural language is the connector, not the controller. He believes hotels should own their own data, shape their own offers and plug directly into natural language ecosystems on equal footing with the OTAs and tech giants. His vision decentralizes power: hotels reclaim agency, guests regain choice and the AI acts as an enabler, not a gatekeeper.
Both visions have merit: Altman’s offers convenience and simplicity for travelers; Brewer’s offers sustainability and fairness for hotels. The future of hospitality may depend on finding a balance between the two.
STANDING OUT
In a world where most hotels look identical online, Brewer’s strategy for visibility is bold, but practical. His concept, “Hotel Rich Cards,” transforms a hotel’s plain-text search result into an interactive, AI-ready experience—complete with live pricing, ratings and imagery.
“Stop blending in. Start standing out,” Brewer said. “Hotels that keep hiding behind generic listings will stay on defense, ducking blows from the OTAs and AI gatekeepers. But those who learn to throw clean, data-driven, direct punches will own the guest’s attention.”
Hotel Rich Cards are Google-powered, Schema-driven structured data that transform a hotel’s plain-text search result into something eye-catching. Instead of a lonely link buried under Expedia listings, a hotel appears on the results page as a bold, interactive ChatGPT App card, complete with images, star ratings, live pricing and the unique property story.
2026: THE YEAR OF NATURAL LANGUAGE SEARCH
This fight is not about technology. It’s about truth, access and fair play. As the gatekeepers guard their corners with algorithms and paywalls, Brewer continues to rally those who see what’s at stake: an open, equitable web where hotels own their relationships, not rent them.
Brewer said he believes natural language search marks travel’s next great shift—no dropdowns, booking widgets or endless forms. The web is evolving from search engine to conversation. Soon, travelers will simply say, “Find me a luxury spa weekend in Napa Valley,” and receive personalized results with real availability—instantly.
Through Agentic Hospitality, Brewer is seeking to help hotels step into that future with a platform that connects them directly to the engines of natural language discovery, turning static websites into conversational, context-aware experiences. The interface has evolved— from graphical to mobile to natural language. This time, the web is listening.
“Hospitality isn’t a subscription,” Brewer said. “It belongs to the people who live it, breathe it and serve it every day. The fight for ownership isn’t over—it’s just begun.”
Story contributed by Nicole Chase.
