By Dustin Stone, HTN staff writer - 3.16.20206
As generative AI begins to influence how travelers research and book trips, Hyatt Hotels is making a more visible push into conversational search and AI-assisted discovery. On Hyatt’s February earnings call, President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian said the company has spent the last two years on what he described as “AI enablement,” and that some of the clearest results are now showing up in how travelers search for hotels.
According to Hoplamazian, Hyatt has introduced intent-based or natural-language search capabilities on Hyatt.com because traditional hotel search tools do not always reflect how travelers actually plan trips. Instead of relying solely on structured fields such as city, dates, and number of guests, the system is designed to interpret conversational queries that describe travel preferences in everyday language.
That shift reflects a broader change in digital commerce, where consumers increasingly expect search tools to understand plain-language requests rather than forcing them through rigid filters and dropdown menus. Hyatt executives say the approach is already showing measurable results. Hoplamazian said the company now has several quarters of internal data indicating that searches conducted through the newer system are producing stronger booking conversion, higher revenue per booking and longer average lengths of stay.
Hyatt’s strategy also extends beyond its own website. The company recently launched a Hyatt-branded application within the ecosystem of ChatGPT, allowing travelers to explore Hyatt hotels directly through conversational prompts. Users can ask questions about destinations, availability and property features, then follow a link to Hyatt.com to complete the reservation. The model mirrors how much of the emerging AI ecosystem currently works: conversational tools assist with discovery and research while the actual transaction remains on the brand’s own booking platform.
Hyatt is not the only hotel company experimenting with this approach. Rival hotel groups are exploring similar strategies as they prepare for a world in which AI assistants may increasingly become the starting point for travel planning. French hospitality company Accor has launched its ALL Accor app inside ChatGPT, allowing travelers to search hotel availability and compare loyalty-member rates through conversational queries before completing bookings on Accor’s own platform. The experience supports more than twenty languages and is designed to reduce friction during the earliest stages of trip planning.
Meanwhile, Marriott International is pursuing a somewhat different strategy centered on AI-powered search and partnerships with major technology platforms. CEO Anthony Capuano has said Marriott plans to introduce natural-language search across Marriott.com and the Marriott Bonvoy mobile app in 2026, enabling travelers to describe their preferences conversationally and receive tailored hotel recommendations. The company is also collaborating with Google on its emerging AI Mode travel planning tool, which could eventually allow users to discover and potentially book Marriott hotels directly through Google’s AI interface.
Marriott has already experimented with generative-AI search in one corner of its portfolio through the Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy platform. That initiative uses large language models to interpret conversational queries and match travelers with vacation rental properties that fit their preferences, generating curated recommendations rather than simply listing available properties. The approach has produced measurable engagement gains, including increased property saves and more frequent search interactions.
Hilton has also begun experimenting with generative AI in the travel discovery process. Last week, the company unveiled its Hilton AI Planner, a conversational planning tool currently in beta testing on Hilton.com. The tool allows travelers to describe travel preferences and receive recommendations about destinations, properties and amenities across Hilton’s global portfolio before completing bookings on Hilton’s website.
Across the hospitality sector, these efforts reflect a broader strategic goal: protecting and expanding direct booking channels. Hotel companies have long relied on online travel agencies such as Booking.com and Expedia for demand generation, but those platforms often charge commissions ranging from roughly 15% to 25% per booking. As AI assistants begin to influence travel discovery, hotel brands see an opportunity to reach travelers earlier in the decision-making process while steering bookings directly to their own platforms.
At the same time, executives acknowledge that the rise of AI introduces new risks. If conversational assistants become the primary interface for trip planning, the companies that control those interfaces—technology platforms rather than hotel brands—could gain influence over which properties travelers ultimately see. That possibility is one reason hotel groups are racing to integrate their systems into emerging AI ecosystems rather than waiting for the technology landscape to settle.
For Hyatt, the early results from natural-language search suggest that conversational interfaces may already be influencing traveler behavior. The company’s internal data indicates that when guests describe trips in their own words rather than selecting from dropdown menus, they often book more expensive stays and remain at the property longer.
Whether that trend holds as AI adoption accelerates remains an open question. But Hyatt’s early experiments suggest that the next competitive battleground in hospitality may not be the booking engine itself. Instead, it may be the moment when a traveler first asks an AI assistant a deceptively simple question: Where should I stay?