AI is becoming a bigger part of how travelers discover places to stay. But the booking still usually happens somewhere else, either on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or a direct booking site.
That's where this gets interesting for hosts and property managers. Because ChatGPT just started rolling out paid ads in the chat.
What if AI picks favorites?
Let's say, hypothetically, that Vrbo pays a boatload of money to be ChatGPT's preferred vacation rental provider. As a result, ChatGPT naturally starts displaying local Vrbo properties whenever a person searches for anything related to planning a trip. For example: someone's chatting with AI about a trip to Lake Tahoe, and the ads only show the top Vrbo properties in Lake Tahoe (similar to how Google ads show paid placements at the top of the list today).
Well, if your listing is only on Airbnb, and not Vrbo, you completely miss out on the potential to be shown to that guest. Even if you have the best property in Lake Tahoe.
The point is, if AI starts steering travelers toward certain booking platforms based on partnerships, ad relationships, or preferred integrations, then multi-channel distribution (having your listing on more than one platform) matters more than ever. You want all potential roads to lead back to your property.
The distribution problem
If AI picks favorites, that means your listing details, pricing, and availability should be synced across as many major platforms as you can get on. The practical challenge is making sure that information is consistent across the different platforms, but that's a core problem that property management systems have already solved.
Most hosts reading this probably have a PMS in place, but according to AirDNA, 64% of Airbnb hosts don't have a PMS, and 48% of listings are single-channel.
That's why this week's news that Hospitable rolled out a completely free PMS plan caught my eye. A PMS, even if it's limited and doesn't have all the bells and whistles, gives hosts the infrastructure to keep listings live and synced across multiple booking channels. That's really valuable right now, and if AI ad partnerships play out the way I think they will, that distribution gets a lot more valuable in the future. I think it's cool that everyday hosts at least have the option to cleanly access Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking without adding another monthly cost, if price is what was holding them back.
Be where the guest ends up
If AI ends up reshaping travel discovery, hosts need to be ready for a world where the winning strategy isn't optimizing their listings on the one "best" platform. It's making sure your properties can be discovered and booked wherever the guest ends up.
As always, strong listings, solid reviews, and a property people actually want to book still matter most. But if you check all those boxes and your listing only lives on one platform, you could find that advertising deals happening behind the scenes with AI companies are costing you bookings.
