Operto launches ‘Predatory OTA’ skill within Marketing AI Agent to help hotels combat brand search hijacking

IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, announces its partnership with PAYBACK , Germany’s leading consumer loyalty programme with more than 35 million customers. The collaboration introduces a new way for German guests to earn rewards when staying at any of IHG’s 7,000+ hotels worldwide. The partnership strengthens the value of IHG One Rewards by connecting hotel stays with PAYBACK’s everyday rewards ecosystem - one of the most widely used loyalty platforms in Germany. For IHG One Reward members based in Germany, the partnership offers greater flexibility and value beyond travel rewards. Members can choose how they earn rewards when staying at participating IHG hotels around the world, by selecting either IHG One Rewards points or PAYBACK points as their earning preference within the IHG One Rewards app or IHG.com . PAYBACK points earned through hotel stays can be redeemed across PAYBACK’s extensive network of retail, grocery and lifestyle partners. We’re delighted to announce our partnership with PAYBACK, one of Germany’s most trusted loyalty programmes. It strengthens the importance of the German market to IHG and enables us to engage German travellers in a more relevant and personalised way. Beyond traditional travel rewards, the collaboration delivers added value for guests, boosts visibility for our owners, and highlights the strength of IHG’s masterbrand in building high‑value, market‑centric partnerships that drive growth Mario Maxeiner, Managing Director, Northern Europe at IHG Hotels & Resorts With IHG Hotels & Resorts, we are gaining a strong global partner with many popular brands that perfectly complement our travel offerings. At the same time, we’re demonstrating just how powerful our platform is. With PAYBACK, we bring a total of 700 strong brands together under one roof and offer more than 35 million customers the right offer, at the right time, through the right channel – now also to guests at IHG’s hotel brands such as InterContinental, Kimpton, Holiday Inn and Garner. This enables efficient new customer acquisition, strong engagement of existing guests, and additional booking incentives through personalized campaigns Dominik Dommick, Managing Director at PAYBACK IHG currently operates 190* hotels in Germany and has an additional 52 hotels in development. *Numbers as of 31 December 2025 For more information, please see FAQ’s here

Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) is redefining how hotels achieve visibility in a digital environment increasingly shaped by AI systems such as ChatGPT and Perplexity AI , as well as Google’s AI-driven search experiences. AI-driven discovery is already reshaping how travelers evaluate options. Instead of moving across multiple sites, users increasingly rely on direct queries that return summarised recommendations, often narrowing the field to a small set of hotels. This shift has measurable implications. Early usage patterns across AI search interfaces show that responses frequently consolidate options into a shortlist, typically fewer than five results, depending on query specificity. For hotels, this creates a more selective environment where visibility depends less on ranking and more on whether a property is clearly understood and trusted by the system generating the answer. Agent Engine Optimization (AEO), therefore, moves beyond traditional SEO. It requires hotels to structure their data, content, and distribution in ways that align with how AI systems retrieve and validate information. Takeaways Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) shifts visibility from ranking pages to being selected by AI systems AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Perplexity already reduce options to a small set of recommendations Consistent, structured data across systems increases the likelihood of inclusion Real-time data feeds improve accuracy and trust Content must be clearly structured so it can be extracted and reused in AI-generated answers Structuring for selection, not ranking Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) begins with a change in how hotel information is prepared. Unlike traditional search engines, AI systems do not simply index pages and return links. They retrieve structured data, compare attributes, and generate responses based on what they can confidently interpret. This behavior is well documented in modern retrieval-augmented generation systems, which prioritize clarity and consistency over volume. For hotels, this means that core property data must be aligned across systems. Room types, amenities, pricing, and policies need to be defined consistently across the website, booking engine, and distribution channels. When discrepancies exist, such as different room descriptions between a direct site and an OTA, AI systems may deprioritize or exclude that property due to uncertainty. In contrast, hotels that maintain consistent, structured data across platforms are more likely to be included in AI-generated recommendations . This reflects a broader shift where the quality of underlying data determines visibility. Try this yourself! Run a simple query such as “best affordable hotels in Sardinia” in platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity AI . Instead of returning a long list of ranked links, the system generates a summarised response that typically includes only a small number of hotel options. These recommendations are selected based on how clearly the system can interpret available data, rather than how a page ranks in a traditional search engine. This behavior is consistent across a range of travel-related queries and illustrates a key shift: visibility is determined by inclusion in the response, not position on a results page. Building a reliable data foundation The next requirement is accessibility. It is not enough for data to be