Hotel distribution used to be a fairly linear path: search, compare, click, book. The channels might have evolved, but the behaviour was familiar.
That path is now being rewritten - not by a new Online Travel Agent, but by a new layer sitting between a guest's intent and a booking decision. Chat LLMs like Gemini, ChatGPT et al, are quickly becoming the front door research and recommendations, and it changes the rules in a surprisingly simple way: visibility is no longer just about being listed. It's about being understood.
That was the clear takeaway from RMS Hospitality Learning Labs (available to watch on-demand) with Leah Rankin, Chief Product Officer at SiteMinder, and David Gillespie, VP of Guest Experience & Ecosystem at RMS. A thoughtful and practical discussion on what's changing now, what stays true, and what accomodation businesses can do next to protect visibility and conversion.
Gillespie captured the moment neatly: the guest will always exist, and the property will always exist - "it's all the connection in the middle" that's changing. That middle is where AI is driving substantial disruption in how accomodation is researched and booked.
Travellers aren't simply searching "hotel in Sydney" anymore. Increasingly, they're describing what they want in natural language: a quiet weekend away that's walkable, a family-friendly stay with easy parking, a pet-friendly place near wineries, something accessible, something great for work and play. Rankin made the point concisely, "the days of guests just searching for a room are fading - they're shopping for an experience".
This matters because experience-led search doesn't map neatly to old filters. "Pool" is easy. "Quiet, safe, easy with kids, close to good food" is harder. AI thrives in that context.
Rankin described generative AI as a modern travel agent: you tell it what you want in plain language, and it searches broadly, summarises options, and returns a shortlist with context. For guests, this reduces effort. For hotels, it compresses the decision window - the time between "I should take a trip" and "I know where I'm staying" shrinks when the comparison shopping gets easier.
This doesn't mean OTAs vanish. But it does mean the inputs AI draws on - property details, policies, attributes, photos, review signals, pricing logic, and booking friction - become even more decisive. Properties that provide deep context are ones that can be interpreted clearly.
Which brings us to the least glamorous insight of all - and arguably the most important.
Rankin's strongest advice was concise and clear: keep property information accurate and current - amenities, descriptions, inclusions, policies, fees, all of it - because that content is what makes you discoverable.
"Make sure everything is up to date and accurate... your amenities, descriptions, your policies - that content is what makes you discoverable by AI."
- Leah Rankin, Chief Product Officer, SiteMinder
In an AI-first discovery model, these details aren't "nice to have." They are the basis on which a system decides whether to recommend you for a guest's needs. AI can only match what it can read.
A practical way to think about "AI-ready" is simply "easy to interpret everywhere." That typically means keeping these elements current and consistent across your ecosystem:
Direct bookings aren't dead - but the bar is rising
Every distribution conversation comes back to direct bookings. The objective hasn't changed: healthier direct mix, stronger margins, and more control of the guest relationship. What's changing is where conversion begins.
In an AI-led journey, a guest may arrive at your booking engine later - with high purchase intent . If an AI assistant has already shortlisted your property, the job now is to make booking effortless.
Gillespie spoke about where the experience is heading: AI helps assemble the booking, then hands the guest into the final steps of checkout to complete payment quickly. In that model, the booking engine becomes less a "destination" and more a conversion endpoint.
AI isn't replacing distribution - it's reshaping the path between intent and booking. The next advantage won't come from being everywhere. It will come from being accurately understood everywhere - by guests, by channels, and by the AI systems increasingly making choices on their behalf.
Thanks to Leah and David for an insightful conversation on the new distriubtion reality.
You can watch the episode here -> Hospitality Learning Lab with SiteMinder's Leah Rankin.