With a rich background shaping the travel, tourism, and events industries, Katarina Railko has a unique vantage point on the technological shifts redefining hospitality. Today, she joins us to dissect the findings of a pivotal new report from TakeUp, “The Rise of AI-Planned Travel in 2026,” which surveyed U.S. travelers to gauge the real-world impact of artificial intelligence on how we explore the world.
Our conversation will explore the fascinating friction between the near-universal awareness of AI travel tools and the significant number of travelers who have yet to embrace them. We’ll delve into why early adopters are so satisfied, what independent hotels must do to remain visible in an algorithm-driven world, and what the next evolution of AI-powered travel assistants will look like.
With traveler awareness of AI planning tools at 90%, what specific friction points, like accuracy or personalization concerns, are preventing the 55% of non-users from adopting them? Please describe the steps the industry can take to build trust and encourage first-time use.
It’s a fascinating dynamic, isn’t it? You have this massive awareness, yet more than half of travelers are still on the sidelines. The core friction isn’t just one thing, but a web of skepticism. People are worried about accuracy—they hear about AI “hallucinating” and wonder if the tool is inventing the perfect hotel or misrepresenting real-time pricing. They’re also concerned about true personalization. Is the AI just serving up the options that have the highest commission, or does it genuinely understand my preference for a quiet, historic hotel over a bustling, modern one? The biggest hurdle, though, is often inertia. People are simply satisfied with their existing methods. To build trust, the industry must be transparent and deliver undeniable value. This means showing the data sources, guaranteeing real-time pricing, and, most importantly, proving it can save users significant time or money. The first experience has to be so seamless and beneficial that they can’t imagine going back to their old way of planning.
A recommendation from a trusted AI tool makes 84% of users more likely to book a specific hotel. What are the most effective, step-by-step strategies for an independent property to ensure it appears favorably in these AI-generated results? Please share some practical examples or metrics.
That 84% figure is a powerful wake-up call for every hotelier. It signals a fundamental shift in how bookings are influenced. For an independent property to win in this new landscape, it’s no longer just about keywords; it’s about communicating your story to a machine. The first step is a comprehensive data audit. Make sure your property’s information is consistent and rich across every platform the AI might scrape. Secondly, focus on narrative detail. Instead of just listing “free breakfast,” describe it: “complimentary hot breakfast featuring locally sourced pastries and artisanal coffee.” An AI can interpret that nuance to match a user asking for a “hotel with a great breakfast.” Finally, you must clearly articulate your value proposition. As Kourtney Thomas from TakeUp noted, you have to make it easy to understand what’s included and why the stay is worth it. This means detailed descriptions of unique amenities, experiences, and the overall atmosphere. Favorable placement is a direct result of providing the AI with the clearest, most compelling answers to a traveler’s unstated questions.
Once travelers use AI for trip planning, 96% intend to use it again. What specific features, such as price comparison or accommodation discovery, are driving this high satisfaction and repeat usage? Could you share an anecdote illustrating how AI transforms the planning process for a user?
The stickiness of these tools is incredible, and that 96% satisfaction rate is a testament to their effectiveness. The primary driver is efficiency, particularly in price comparison, which the report highlights as the most helpful feature for 35% of travelers. Think about the old process: dozens of open tabs, comparing flights on one site, hotels on another, and tours on a third. It was a stressful, time-consuming puzzle. Now, imagine a user who simply tells an AI, “I want a relaxing beach getaway in a walkable town for under $2,000 for a long weekend next month.” Instead of spending hours sifting through options, they receive a curated itinerary in minutes that compares prices across the board. They can see not just the cheapest option, but the best value. This radical simplification of a complex task is what creates that feeling of magic and relief, making it almost impossible to go back. It’s why 63% of existing users are already relying on AI for most or all of their trips.
As AI becomes a primary gateway for travel discovery, how can independent properties effectively communicate their unique value—what’s included and why a stay is worth it—to an algorithm? What are the key differences between optimizing for an AI versus a traditional search engine?
This is the central challenge, and it requires a mindset shift. Traditional SEO was about gaming the system with keywords and backlinks to rank for terms like “hotel in Miami.” Optimizing for an AI is about providing structured, descriptive truth. The key difference is moving from keywords to concepts. An AI doesn’t just look for “pet-friendly”; it tries to understand the quality of the pet-friendly experience. So, a hotel needs to provide data that answers deeper questions: “Do you offer dog beds? Is there a park nearby? Is there a fee?” You’re essentially building a detailed profile of your property’s soul. The goal is for the AI to grasp your unique identity so that when a user makes a complex request—”Find me a romantic boutique hotel with a fireplace and a late checkout”—your property is the undeniable answer. You are no longer optimizing for a search query; you are optimizing for a human desire.
Looking ahead, travelers expect more proactive AI with real-time price alerts and adaptive itineraries. What are the biggest technical or data-related hurdles to delivering these personalized capabilities, and what does the next generation of AI travel assistants look like in practice?
The leap from reactive planner to proactive assistant is where the real complexity lies. The biggest hurdle is data integration on a massive, real-time scale. To provide reliable price alerts, an AI needs instantaneous access to inventory and pricing systems from countless airlines, hotels, and tour operators, all of which use different technologies. To create truly adaptive itineraries based on past behavior, you need to ethically collect and intelligently analyze vast amounts of user data, which raises significant privacy and security challenges. The next generation of AI travel assistants will feel less like a tool you command and more like a partner that anticipates. It won’t just book your flight; it will message you that your gate has changed, suggest a coffee shop near the new gate based on your past preferences, and pre-book a taxi to your hotel that adjusts its arrival time if your flight is delayed. It will be a seamless, predictive layer over your entire travel experience.
What is your forecast for AI-planned travel?
My forecast is that within a few years, the term “AI-planned travel” will become redundant. It will simply be “travel.” The technology is evolving so rapidly that it will become the default, invisible infrastructure for how we discover, book, and experience the world. The focus will shift from the pre-trip planning phase to real-time, in-trip enhancement. Your AI assistant will not only get you there but will help you navigate your destination, adapt to unforeseen changes, and discover hidden gems along the way. We are moving beyond AI as a simple booking engine to AI as a personalized, dynamic travel companion in your pocket. The properties and providers that thrive will be those who learn to communicate their unique value not just to people, but to the intelligent systems that guide them.
