Companies must adapt as AI becomes the norm in travel search

Last week, the UK officially launched Google’s AI Mode, marking a major milestone in what Google chief Sundar Pichai called the clearest roadmap yet for the company’s shift toward AI-first search.

 

At the heart of the announcement is ’AI Mode’, Google’s new conversational experience, which had previously been launched in the US and India.

 

Unlike traditional search, AI Mode transforms how users interact with information, enabling them to have dynamic, multi-step conversations.

 

AI Mode isn’t just another AI Overview snippet. This is a complete conversation-based search experience where users can ask follow-up questions, get clarifications, and basically treat Google like their personal travel agent.

 

This fundamentally changes how travellers research trips. Instead of conducting 10 separate searches for ’hotels London,’ ’London restaurants,’ and ’London attractions,’ travellers can now ask complex questions like ’Plan a weekend in London for foodie couples who want boutique hotels near markets and live music venues.’

 

This shifts travel marketing from keyword optimization to conversation and passage optimization - you need to anticipate and answer each of the distinct parts of trip planning with self-contained, clear and abbreviated information on your owned platforms.

 

My prediction? This becomes the default search experience within 12 months, not the 2-3 years most people are assuming.

 

The implications for the travel industry are significant. While ChatGPT adoption is increasing, the shift would be seismic if Google made AI Mode the default search experience, and the entire planning and booking process would change globally.

 

Most travel companies rely heavily on top-of-funnel content — blog posts, destination guides, and curated itineraries — to attract audiences and feed retargeting campaigns. AI Mode is set to disrupt that pipeline dramatically.

 

Instead of users visiting ten different websites to compare options or asking follow-up questions such as the weather, they’ll now have one conversation with Google’s AI - a platform that’s built with “query fan-out” technology that anticipates many of your future searches automatically.

 

For travel marketing, we’re always talking about the "messy middle" where we can’t easily map a traveller’s buying journey between inspiration and booking. AI Mode’s rollout further obfuscates that journey, and travel marketers will be forced to build a strategy around even less data.

 

My recommendation: maintain visibility across the entire booking journey. Create answers for top, middle, and bottom-of-funnel intent. Make those answers succinct and clear, and reference your brand frequently. Continue testing and be ready to influence and experiment with emerging organic and paid surfaces as they become available.

 

Despite this revolution in travel search, there is still one thing AI cannot do: handle bookings and payments. What does change is the discovery and planning phase and the winners will be the companies that AI mentions and recommends consistently.

 

In this new landscape, ranking #1 on Google is no longer the goal. What matters is being the brand that gets mentioned — and trusted — by the AI in response to user queries. In other words, mentions are the new clicks.

Travel companies that evolve their content strategy now will train the AI to recognize and trust them.

The ones waiting for “more clarity” will be playing catch-up while their competitors dominate AI-powered conversations.