Welcome to "The AI Advantage," a monthly series by Michael J. Goldrich, Chief Experience Officer at The Hotels Network and Founder and Chief Advisor at Vivander Advisors. Each month, Michael explores the latest AI trends and innovations shaping the hospitality industry and their impact on hoteliers.
For decades, the hotel industry has fought to reclaim control of its direct booking channel. First from traditional travel agents, then from OTAs, and more recently from Google itself. But the latest challenge isn’t a middleman in the traditional sense. It’s something entirely different.
Operator.
It doesn’t compare prices across OTAs. It doesn’t pull up a list of hotels ranked by star ratings or location. It doesn’t encourage travelers to visit your website at all, unless they already know your name.
Operator, OpenAI’s new AI “Computer Use” agent, is the next iteration of search. And if left unchecked, it may accelerate a shift that hoteliers aren’t ready for: a future where AI books rooms without guests ever visiting a hotel website.
Operator is an AI-powered assistant designed to handle tasks on behalf of users. It navigates the web, searches for flights, hotels, restaurants, and events, and, after checking in with the user, completes bookings. It doesn’t just suggest options. It acts.
The promise? Frictionless travel planning. No more opening ten tabs to compare prices. No more endless scrolling. Just a simple, seamless, AI-driven experience where guests say what they need, and Operator delivers the best match.
But here’s the catch.
During testing, Operator overwhelmingly directed searches to OTAs rather than hotel websites. Unless a traveler specifically requested a hotel by name, the AI defaulted to aggregators like Booking.com and Expedia.
Let that sink in.
This is not a Google-style search where potential guests sift through multiple options. Operator makes the choice for them. And if your hotel’s brand isn’t top of mind, the AI will route that guest straight to an OTA.
Which means the battle for direct bookings is about to get even harder.
For years, hotels have optimized their websites for one type of visitor: humans. The strategy was simple, drive traffic, tell a compelling brand story, and optimize conversion.
But in the age of AI, your website will now serve four distinct audiences:
Here’s the problem: hoteliers want more humans on their site, but that number is going to shrink. AI will increasingly act as the gatekeeper, filtering search results before a human ever clicks a link.
Which means when a human does land on your site, you need to convert them.
And you need to do it fast.
If Operator and similar AI agents dictate the booking journey, hoteliers must rethink their digital strategy from the ground up.
The old model, driving traffic through SEO and paid search is becoming obsolete. In its place, a new set of imperatives is emerging:
If AI agents only surface hotels by name, branding becomes the single most important asset in your digital arsenal.
If your brand isn’t explicitly requested, you’re invisible.
The battle for direct bookings doesn’t start when a traveler reaches your website. It starts with owning the guest relationship.
The hotels that invest in guest relationships now will be the ones still standing when AI fully takes over the discovery process.
Search engine optimization used to be the endgame. Not anymore. Now, hotels must optimize for AI-driven discovery.
Think of it this way: SEO was about being found by humans. AI optimization is about being recognized by algorithms.
Fewer humans will organically visit hotel websites in an AI-first world. Which means that every visitor must be treated as a high-value conversion opportunity.
The stakes are higher. The guest journey is shorter. The window for conversion is closing.
For the last decade, hotels have been playing defense against OTAs. The game just changed.
AI-powered travel agents like Operator are eliminating the search process entirely. They’re deciding for the traveler choosing which options to present and which to ignore.
If hotels don’t take action now, the direct booking channel will shrink to those already loyal to your brand.
But for those who adapt?
The next chapter of hotel distribution won’t be won with better SEO or more paid ads. It will be won by the hotels that understand the shift from human-driven search to AI-driven answers.
Operator is just the beginning. The AI-first era of travel is here.
P.S. If you’re wondering just how Operator works in practice, I shared a video where I prompted it to find airline reservations (from NY to Indianapolis) and a hotel near the Indianapolis conference center for HSMAI’s Commercial Strategy Week. The result? Operator went straight to Expedia. No comparisons. No brand-direct options. Just a seamless handoff to an OTA.
This isn’t some distant future. It’s happening right now. The AI-first booking journey is here, and if hotels don’t take action, they’ll be relegated to the background while AI funnels guests elsewhere.
Watch the video and see for yourself. (NOTE: It took a total of 15 minutes, so I increased the video playback speed 5x.)
Then ask: What’s your direct channel strategy to stay visible?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael J. Goldrich is THN's Chief Experience Officer and Founder and Chief Advisor of Vivander Advisors, specializing in digital and AI strategies for thought leadership, thought education, and thought solutions. A leading expert in generative AI, he authored Too Many Hats, Too Little Time. After spending nearly two decades in digital marketing and project leadership for multimillion-dollar brands and startups, his expertise in has established him as a sought-after consultant and a pivotal figure in shaping the future of customer engagement within the hospitality sector. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.