Real AI Performance Metrics tracked across hundreds of independent hotels

As generative search rapidly transforms how travellers plan trips, understanding direct traffic from conversational AI has become essential for hospitality brands. Our AI Traffic Index tracks real performance metrics across hundreds of independent hotels.

AI Traffic Index For Hotels

As generative search rapidly transforms how travellers plan trips, understanding direct traffic from conversational AI has become essential for hospitality brands. Our monthly AI Traffic Index tracks real performance metrics across hundreds of hotel sites.

September 2026 Index

0.45

of overall traffic
0.4

of overall revenue
98

of AI traffic from ChatGPT

September 2026

The Learnings

ChatGTP Dominates AI Assistant Traffic

AI Assistant Channel Mix

ChatGPT dominates AI-referred traffic by a substantial margin, delivering 98% of all AI-referred traffic. Gemini comes in at only 1%, with all other LLMs delivering <1%.

The picture is similar from a revenue perspective. However, there has been significant change over the last few months. ChatGPT revenue sat at 80% of overall AI-referred revenue in March, increasing to 99% in Sepember. Gemini saw the reverse trend, dropping from 11% in March to below 1% in September.

We are starting to see some other AI Assistants popping up in our data, delivering very small amounts of traffic and revenue but growing steadily. The 2 standing out in terms of growth are Meta AI and Duck.ai. While volumes here are diminishingly small, these two are worth watching.

The data does deserve a caveat: Due to the traffic and revenue volume being very small in the grand scheme of things, a few bookings can make a big difference to the percentages here.

User Location Matters

International Traffic Patterns Are Changing

AI Assistant traffic has been heavily driven by US customers up to now with 58% of our AI Assistant traffic in March coming from the US, despite the US only accounting for 7% of overall traffic.

Since March, AI Assistant traffic has grown in Ireland by 230% and in the UK by 188%. While the US has also seen growth, it was at a much smaller scale with only an 11% increase since March, dropping the US to 37% of our AI Assistant traffic.

Our current data sets are too small to draw definitive conclusions. However, based on the currently available data, it stands to reason that users with more complex bookings to locations they’re not familiar with (e.g. US travelling to Ireland needing flights, hotels, transport), are more likely to use AI for travel research than an Irish guest going to Dublin for a night. However, the European markets are catching up with the technology fast.

Note: The change in US volume is likely tied to seasonality as the booker profile gravitates away from higher value international customers to lower value domestic customers at this time of year. It is not necessarily a reflection on demand changes or market conditions.

This emerging trend warrants further research and we will continue to monitor this closely.

About This Data

All data in this report is based on real traffic data across hundreds of independent hotel websites.

It includes referral data from all major LLMs and does not include data from Google’s AI Overviews and Google AI Mode.

How much hotel website traffic is currently coming from AI assistants?

As of September 2026, around 0.45% of overall website traffic comes directly from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity.

Are guests actually booking hotels after using ChatGPT and other AI assistants?

Yes. 0.5% of revenue is currently generated directly from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. While the figures are still small, they are growing consistently. We are also seeing higher percentages for different markets; e.g. 1.5% of revenue from US-based guests is delivered via ChatGPT and other AI assistants.

Which AI assistants are driving the most traffic to hotel websites?

ChatGPT by far delivers the most traffic and revenue out of all the AI Assistants. As of August 2026, ChatGPT alone delivered 98% of AI traffic and 94% of AI revenue. Note that Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews are not included in this dataset.

How can I make my hotel more visible in ChatGPT and other AI assistants?

Our AI Discoverability Guide for Independent Hoteliers outlines practical steps you can take to strengthen your hotel’s visibility as AI-assisted travel planning grows, or get in touch with our team to see how we can help.

Why is AI visibility important for my hotel?

As more guests use ChatGPT and other AI assistants to research destinations, compare hotels and plan trips, being visible in these recommendations creates another opportunity to influence guests before they reach an OTA or your hotel website.

Prepare your hotel for AI-driven discovery

Download our comprehensive AI Discoverability guide for independent hoteliers, designed to help you focus on the areas that matter most, so your hotel is not only easier to find but better positioned to convert interest into bookings.

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