Welcome to "The AI Advantage," a monthly series by Michael J. Goldrich, 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.

Google’s 2025 I/O announcements made one thing brutally clear: Search is no longer about discovery. It is about answers. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode are designed to keep users inside the platform, serve up synthesized responses, and eliminate clicks to external sites entirely. This is the future of search and it is already here.

THE RISE OF AI MODE

AI Mode is a fully immersive research assistant, pulling data, summarizing, and answering questions directly inside the interface. No blue links. No referral traffic. And fewer paths that lead travelers to hotel websites.

Even when Google links out, the destination is often a Google Business Profile. Many times, there are no clickable links at all, only naked URLs or AI summaries. The goal is very clear: to reduce friction for users, keep them in Google’s ecosystem, and monetize the attention.

THE ORGANIC TRAFFIC CLIFF

SEO professionals see where this is headed. Organic click-through rates are declining. The shift is no longer theoretical. AI-generated responses answer user intent directly, and fewer travelers click out to hotel sites unless they already know the brand.

Google insists that AI Mode will still send traffic to the web. Sundar Pichai says these will be "higher-intent clicks" that convert better. But many in the industry remain skeptical. If most questions are answered inside AI Mode, organic discovery for hotels will contract.

FROM RANKING TO RECOGNITION

The playbook is changing. It is no longer about ranking in traditional search results. It is about recognition by AI.

AI systems do reward keyword optimization. They reward familiarity, authority, and trust signals from across the web. Only a fraction of what these systems cite comes from your own website. Much of the training data lives on third-party sites, podcasts, reviews, LinkedIn profiles, Reddit threads, and external media mentions.

AI search is about signals and most of those signals are off-site.

PAID TRAFFIC IS THE NEW FRONT DOOR

Google’s business model remains advertising. As organic real estate contracts, paid inventory expands. AI Overviews and AI Mode will introduce more embedded ad placements, AI-powered Performance Max options, and monetized recommendations.

Just as metasearch eroded organic hotel visibility a decade ago, AI-first search is replicating the pattern. Paid exposure will be the clearest path to visibility for many brands.

THE NEW DIRECT CHANNEL STRATEGY

To survive this shift, hoteliers need a new digital strategy. The battle for direct bookings is moving upstream long before a traveler types anything into a search box.

• Brand is the firewall. If AI systems prioritize known brands, hotels must flood the market with brand presence across social, PR, podcasts, influencers, and loyalty programs.

• First-party data is the moat. Build guest relationships that start long before Google gets involved. Loyalty, email, SMS, and direct CRM engagement become non-negotiable.

• AI optimization beats SEO. Schema markup, structured data, entity optimization, and clean integrations across PMS, CRM, RMS, and CMS platforms are now critical.

• Personalization becomes the weapon. Feed AI models with rich guest data to deliver tailored offers across your website, email, chatbots, and media channels.

• Conversion is the finish line. Every guest who lands on your site must convert. Personalize content. Use AI-powered chat. Offer direct booking incentives that OTAs can match.

AI ILLITERACY IS THE REAL THREAT

This is just about Google. AI agents like Operator and Project Mariner will soon skip search altogether. Guests will tell an AI agent what they want, and that agent will book it, often favoring OTAs unless your hotel has established brand recognition and data accessibility.

The real threat is AI illiteracy, being unprepared for how these systems evaluate content, surface results, and make decisions.

The hotels that win will be the ones who build AI-friendly digital infrastructure today. Those who delay will be waiting behind the AI barrier, hoping for traffic that never arrives.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael J. Goldrich is 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.