Is AI the New Travel Concierge? What it Means for the Luxury Hotel Market

Published on July 7, 2025 by Lina Voskresenska

Luxury hotels always centered on exceptional service—but today, those expectations begin long before a guest checks in. High-value travellers are increasingly using tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to search for ideas, uncover hidden gems, and plan their stays. As AI becomes a starting point for holiday decisions, luxury hotels and travel brands must ask: Are we showing up in those conversations?

AI + Luxury Travel Snapshot:

50% of £37k-£56k earners use AI travel apps, decreasing slightly at higher income brackets
20% of UK 25-34-year-olds are very likely to use AI for travel planning
49% of travellers who used AI for trip planning called it a ‘very effective’ tool
57.8% of travellers say AI saved them time when planning trips
71.1% of AI users found new activities and destinations through AI tools
Among high-income travellers aged 25-44, AI is increasingly seen as a digital concierge

How Affluent Travellers Are Using AI

Travellers are increasingly using large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to research highly tailored travel experiences and simplify trip planning, especially when overwhelmed by online information.

Among high-income travellers aged 25–44, AI is increasingly seen as a digital concierge.
According to an NRG report, nearly half of travellers who’ve turned to AI for trip planning say it’s worked really well for them – 49% called it a ‘very effective’ tool.
Omio’s 2024 study showed that 44% of European and US travellers plan to use AI tools for booking and planning their trip, up from 27% in 2023.
In the UK, a Sainsbury’s Bank survey found that 10% of Brits have already used AI platforms like ChatGPT to help plan their holidays.
A 2024 MoneyLion survey found that 70% of Americans are either using or planning to use AI for trip planning, with this rising to 81% among those with children, highlighting demand for convenience and flexibility in more complex travel scenarios.

From summarising thousands of reviews to answering highly specific queries,“Where’s the best lakefront hotel in Zurich with a spa?” – AI offers fast support for discovery and booking.

But the answers depend on what the AI model knows. That means visibility in trusted sources like national press, travel blogs, and LLM content partners is now just as important as ranking on Google.

If your brand isn’t showing up in AI-generated answers, it’s not part of the conversation. LLM tools highlight brands cited in trusted sources, and if a luxury travel brand is missing from those, you’re missing from moments when travellers are most curious, inspired, and more importantly — ready to act (costing businesses visibility, conversions and revenue).

Climbing Tree’s AI Visibility Study

Led by this insight, we recently conducted an AI visibility study for a leading luxury travel provider, examining their presence in ChatGPT. We checked which publishers were being cited in response to luxury accommodation queries and analysed what types of content from competitor brands were appearing most frequently in LLM responses. We also identified which LLM content partners, blogs, travel sites, and national press outlets were not currently linking to the brand.

These findings helped inform our content and outreach strategy, which resulted in a 105% increase in AI traffic and 2 high-value booking conversions from ChatGPT – a completely new revenue-driving channel.

Our study suggests that when luxury hotels are not recommended by LLMs, they risk missing out on:

Being part of hyper-personalised suggestions: LLMs consider user context, preferences, and behaviours when serving recommendations.
Appearing in fast-paced, high-intent moments: Busy, affluent users expect quick, high-quality responses to their queries.
Organic trust-building: Being referenced by reputable publications that LLMs draw from reinforces brand credibility.

A new dimension of digital strategy is emerging, particularly in the luxury sector, where discovery is driven by inspiration and exclusivity. Strategic brand positioning within LLM ecosystems through strong indexing, key content partnerships and presence in reference sources ensures your brand remains visible when affluent consumers seek personalised recommendations.

Benefits of improving visibility in AI-powered searches:

Boosts authoritative mentions on high-ranking domains; frequent training sources for LLMs
Improves semantic relevance, helping AI associate your brand with key topics and locations
Drives citations and backlinks from sources often cited by LLMs
Shapes how your brand is perceived and described in AI-generated summaries

Why LLM Visibility Matters for Luxury Hotels

Appearing in AI-powered results drives high-intent visibility at the exact moment travellers are planning
Frequent citations across authoritative sources shape how LLMs describe your brand
Visibility builds trust, influences choices, and supports reputation management

Where AI Looks for Answers: Through our work, we’ve identified four main source types that AI models rely on:

National and local press
Renowned travel and lifestyle publications
Quality travel blogs with consistent domain authority
Official content partners to OpenAI, Google, etc.

Appearing across these channels increases your brand’s chances of being surfaced, trusted and chosen.

The Revenue Impact of Visibility: This isn’t just about digital presence, it’s about performance. When your brand is included in AI responses, you’re meeting customers at a decision-making moment. That visibility can:

Increase brand recall and preference
Drive qualified traffic and bookings
Support advocacy through shareable, AI-generated itineraries

What Brands Should Do Next

Conduct an AI Visibility Audit

Simulate queries your audience is asking (e.g. “best spa weekends UK”) and see if your brand appears. If not, assess why – usually due to weak indexing or a lack of relevant citations.

Prioritise Digital PR for LLMs

Focus your PR strategy on earning citations from sources LLMs are trained on. This means securing mentions in national press, respected blogs, and partner publications – not just links.

Measure and Track Citations

Track your brand mentions across these sources, and regularly test how AI tools are referencing you. This insight helps guide ongoing outreach.

Think Reputation, Not Just Reach

The way AI describes your brand influences perception. Strong visibility leads to trust. Trust leads to conversions.

At Climbing Trees, we specialise in helping hotels:

Analyse their LLM visibility
Identify gaps and opportunities
Develop content and PR strategies to earn authoritative citations
Increase exposure in AI tools used by high-intent travellers

If AI can’t find you, your future guests won’t either.

AI is shaping the way today’s travellers discover and experience the world. For luxury hotels, the real opportunity lies in blending this intelligence with intuition. The brands that thoughtfully integrate AI while preserving their human essence will not only futureproof their offering; they’ll lead it.

Ready to understand how your brand shows up in AI-driven travel planning? We can help you find the gaps and fix them. Let’s talk.