Short answer
BrightEdge's travel research shows the best-known brand in each category leading in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews answers. Booking platforms dominate price-driven questions, while inspiration and experience questions leave comparatively more room for sources such as YouTube and Reddit and for smaller sites. The findings reflect the US market.
Highlights
- Big brands lead airline, hotel, booking platform and cruise categories on both engines.
- Booking platforms appear in most AI Overviews answers that include words such as cheap, deal or budget.
- Inspiration queries favour sources such as YouTube and Reddit, a comparatively open area for smaller brands.
2 min readAuthor: UNIT Journal EditorEditor-in-chief: Uğur Deniz İlhan
As Search Engine Journal reports, BrightEdge's holiday travel research shows that the best-known brands in each category lead in AI answers. The data is read as share of voice: because AI answers have no ranking positions like classic search results, it measures how often a brand appears in tracked answers.
Which brands lead?
According to BrightEdge, American Airlines, Royal Caribbean and Expedia lead their categories on both Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT. Among hotels the leader depends on the engine: Hilton has a 28.3% share on AI Overviews and Marriott 29.4% on ChatGPT.
Who appears in price-driven questions?
Booking platforms appear in 78% of AI Overviews answers involving words such as "cheap", "deal", "budget" or "last-minute", against 17% of other answers. As the report stresses, this is an observed association, not proof that the words cause a brand to appear.
Where can smaller brands find an opening?
In inspiration questions, sources such as YouTube, Reddit and AAA are more prominent. The author reads this as a door for smaller and rising brands whose content rests on human experience and judgement, while booking-intent questions stay with the large players.
What should hotels and tourism businesses in Turkey do?
The research measures US travel brands, so the same result should not be assumed for Turkey. But the method gives hotel and accommodation businesses a framework to apply in their own market.
- Test monthly, by hand, which question types (inspiration, comparison, booking) your brand appears in within AI answers.
- Instead of competing with big platforms on price questions, publish original, expert-led content about your region and experience.
- Publish your own experience stories on YouTube and your site, using your brand name consistently.
- Measure with the same questions every time and record the change; do not rely on a single measurement.
Frequently asked
- Do big brands dominate AI answers for every query?
- No. According to the data, big brands lead clearly categorised queries, while sources such as YouTube and Reddit are more visible in inspiration questions.
Sources
- Search Engine Journal ·
Follow UNIT Journal
What's new in search, AI and technology, in your feed every day.
