Leading hotel technology and digital marketing providers Net Affinity and Smarthotel have begun activating advertising for independent hotels within ChatGPT, as the emerging advertising channel launches across the UK and Europe.
The move sees Net Affinity and Smarthotel among the early hotel marketing providers helping independent properties establish a presence within ChatGPT, allowing its clients to test and learn from a new channel as AI becomes an increasingly influential part of the travel planning journey.
The development follows significant growth in the role ChatGPT is already playing in driving consumers to hotel websites.
Analysis of real traffic across hundreds of independent hotel websites by Net Affinity and Smarthotel shows that ChatGPT now delivers 97% of all AI-referred traffic, substantially ahead of Gemini at 2% and Microsoft Copilot at 1%, with all other large language models accounting for less than 1%.
Lauri Koop, Managing Director at Net Affinity, said: “AI is changing how consumers approach travel planning, and our own data shows just how dominant ChatGPT has already become within AI-referred hotel traffic.“
“Our role is to make sure our hotel clients are well placed to respond to new opportunities quickly and strategically. Activating advertising within ChatGPT at this early stage allows us to build first-hand experience of the channel and assess where it can add genuine value alongside established paid search, metasearch and social campaigns.”
The trend is even more pronounced from a revenue perspective. In March 2026, ChatGPT accounted for 80% of all revenue generated through AI referrals. By July, that figure had increased to 98%, while Gemini fell from 11% to just 2%.
With ChatGPT Ads now creating a paid opportunity alongside this growing organic influence, Net Affinity and Smarthotel believe the development represents an important new addition to the multichannel marketing mix for hotels.
Lauri added: “This is still an emerging advertising platform, which makes early involvement particularly important. By building our knowledge of the channel now, we believe we can create a competitive advantage for our hotel clients as ChatGPT Ads develops.“
“We’ve already begun activating campaigns with Galgorm Group, giving us valuable early insight into how the platform performs for an independent hotel and helping us identify how best to apply those learnings across our wider client base.”
Early UK advertising data from search intelligence specialist Adthena also shows that competition is already developing within the travel sector. Hospitality & Travel ads appeared in 76.31% of sampled responses, with 884 distinct advertisers identified, despite the sector not currently ranking among the ten most heavily advertised industries.
Activity within travel is currently centred heavily around online travel agents, package holiday providers and transport businesses, underlining the opportunity for independent hotels to establish their own presence as the channel develops.
Victoria Brown, Marketing Director at Galgorm Group, said: “We’re delighted that our partner Net Affinity and Smarthoel is always innovating in its marketing services and got us live on ChatGPT Ads early. It’s a really exciting development for our marketing strategy and gives us the opportunity to explore how AI can complement our paid campaign approach.”
Net Affinity will continue to monitor the performance of ChatGPT Ads and how the platform fits into the wider hotel booking journey as the channel develops.
For more information on Net Affinity and Smarthotel, please visit www.netaffinity.com and www.smarthotel.nl.