Michael J. Goldrich

💻 Expedia, Booking.com, and Accor have integrated AI booking apps within ChatGPT. Expedia's chat experience is the smoothest, while Booking.com is moderate, and Accor has the most limited experience. Expedia and Booking.com redirect bookings back to their platforms, bypassing direct hotel relationships, whereas Accor maintains a direct channel. AI aids 90% of travelers, with 63% using it for most trips, signaling a shift in ownership of guest relationships as booking integration evolves.

📈 OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman confirmed future plans for GPT-5 to handle hotel bookings with one-click. At the Progress Conference, economist Tyler Cowen noted GPT-5's role in hotel selections. OpenAI has commerce integrations with Klarna, Shopify, Instacart, and Walmart, with travel next. Hotels must adapt or risk becoming mere inventory, as the AI-driven model bypasses traditional SEO and booking strategies. Booking requires structured offers, live rates, and API access. One-click bookings via AI are imminent.

💻 Virgin Voyages leveraged AI to cut creative costs by 35% and increase sales by 28%. Google’s new Gemini Enterprise delivers entire projects without delays, using over 50 AI agents. AI agents are now a standard, revolutionizing how companies operate by handling tasks quickly and efficiently. Hotel teams must adopt AI to remain competitive, focusing on outcome-oriented thinking. AI should be seen as a team member, transforming workflows and optimizing marketing and revenue strategies.

💻 In October 2025, Expedia and Perplexity launched Comet, an AI-powered browser transforming travel booking. Comet plans trips, compares hotels, and makes bookings without visiting hotel websites. Expedia offers Silver status in its loyalty program for downloading Comet, reflecting shifting search behaviors towards AI. Hotel visibility is threatened as Comet acts agentically, potentially bypassing hotel websites entirely. Hotels must adapt by becoming AI-literate, auditing content, incorporating conversational AI, and treating AI as a new distribution channel.

📈 Google’s 2025 I/O reveals search is now about answers, not discovery, with AI Overviews and AI Mode minimizing external site clicks. Organic click-through rates are dropping, shifting focus from traditional SEO to AI recognition. Google's business model pivots to advertising with AI-powered ad placements. Hoteliers need new digital strategies focusing on brand presence, first-party data, and AI optimization. AI illiteracy poses a threat, with systems like Operator potentially bypassing search and preferring OTAs over lesser-known brands.

📸 In a fast-paced hospitality industry, OpenAI's new image generation model revolutionizes hotel marketing by creating brand-aligned visuals in minutes. By generating high-quality images with simple text prompts, hoteliers can quickly produce visuals that enhance their storytelling. This doesn't replace marketers; it amplifies their role in setting creative intent and aligning visuals with brand stories. The technology enables rapid A/B testing and more frequent campaigns, crucial for increasing direct bookings in a competitive market.

📌 Vibe marketing, as explained by Michael J. Goldrich, THN's Chief Experience Officer and Founder of Vivander Advisors, enhances marketing efficiency for hotels. It utilizes AI to handle the details of marketing campaigns while humans set the creative direction, allowing for rapid output. The approach fits hotel teams running lean operations, enabling them to launch multi-channel campaigns in minutes and freeing up time to focus on guiding the vision rather than executing tasks. Vibe marketing aids in staying relevant and competitive, particularly with direct bookings, by enabling the creation of personalized content quickly. Michael suggests starting with tools like ChatGPT, Make.com, Zapier, Airtable, or Notion to streamline processes. This strategy allows small teams to operate with the capabilities of larger ones, emphasizing the importance of systemizing creativity to stay ahead in the hospitality industry.

📢 AI Voice Agents are transforming hotel operations by providing 24/7 support, handling booking inquiries, offering multilingual support, reducing staff workload, and creating personalized guest experiences. They differ from chatbots, Siri, and Alexa by engaging in nuanced, real-time voice interactions tailored for hospitality. Hotels using AI Voice Agents can capture every booking opportunity, focus staff on high-value interactions, and drive revenue through upselling and cross-selling. The technology enables hoteliers to offer efficient service without losing the human touch, giving them a strategic advantage in the AI-driven future of hospitality. Michael J. Goldrich, Chief Experience Officer at The Hotels Network and Founder of Vivander Advisors, underscores the significant shift in guest service driven by AI Voice Agents.

📰 OpenAI has introduced Operator, an AI "Computer Use" agent that executes web tasks, including booking hotels. This technology is shifting how travelers book rooms, potentially bypassing hotel websites in favor of OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia. Hotels now need to appeal to four types of website visitors: humans, AI assistants like Operator, on-site AI chatbots, and SEO crawlers. As the AI dictates more of the booking journey, brand recognition, first-party data, AI optimization, and immediate conversion on hotel websites become crucial for success. The AI-first era of travel booking is here, and hotels must adapt to remain visible and competitive.