Big Travel Brands Lead AI Search, but Inspiration Queries Leave Room for Smaller Sites

Posted on Oct 31 • Originally published at blog.geosearchleads.com

Major travel brands account for a substantial share of visibility in Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT answers, according to BrightEdge research. But the study also points to an important qualification for smaller travel sites: AI discovery is not controlled by brand size alone, particularly when people seek inspiration, perspectives and niche expertise rather than a direct booking option.

BrightEdge examined US English holiday-travel prompts across airlines, hotels, cruises and booking platforms. Its findings show that established brands lead across the two AI surfaces measured. At the same time, inspiration queries surfaced content ecosystems such as YouTube, Reddit and AAA more prominently. That creates a potential opening for publishers, local specialists and independent operators whose useful experience is difficult for a large brand page to replicate.

The study analyzed 9,720 Google AI Overviews observations and 1,122 ChatGPT observations from August through September 2026. BrightEdge measured the engines separately, using different prompt sets. Its reported percentages represent share of voice in AI answers, not conventional organic rankings, bookings or guaranteed recommendations.

The category leaders were generally familiar travel brands, although the leading hotel brand varied by platform.

The figures illustrate why AI visibility should be evaluated by engine and category. A business that appears often in one AI product may not hold the same position in another. For example, Hilton led the hotel category in Google AI Overviews, while Marriott led in ChatGPT.

The full methodology and category results are available in BrightEdge’s October 2026 holiday travel AI search research.

One of the more useful findings for content teams concerns query intent. Booking platforms appeared much more often when prompts indicated a booking need. BrightEdge found that 38% of Google AI Overview answers naming a booking platform came from booking-intent prompts, even though only 9% of the Google AI Overview prompts in the sample were classified as booking intent.

Budget-related prompts were even more closely associated with booking platforms. In this subset, 78% of Google AI Overview answers named a booking platform, and Expedia appeared in 44% of those answers.

That pattern is logical, but it matters strategically. Commercially explicit questions can favor recognizable transactional brands with broad inventory and established entities. Trying to compete with those brands using thin destination pages or generic “best deals” content is unlikely to create a distinctive reason for an AI system to use a smaller source.

Inspiration and comparison questions can work differently. A traveler asking for a quiet coastal town, a realistic two-day itinerary, accessible experiences, an honest neighborhood comparison or advice from someone who has taken a particular route is not necessarily looking for a booking platform. These prompts leave more room for editorial judgment, specificity and lived experience.

BrightEdge observed YouTube, Reddit and AAA appearing more prominently for inspiration queries. The study does not establish that every independent publisher will gain AI visibility, nor does it measure clicks or conversions. Still, the pattern suggests that AI answers can draw on sources beyond the largest commercial travel brands when the question benefits from subjective or experience-led information.

For smaller sites, the opportunity is not simply to publish more pages. It is to publish material that contributes something distinct to the answer:

This does not mean abandoning core SEO practices. Crawlable pages, clear site architecture, descriptive titles and trustworthy entity information remain important foundations for discovery. The GEO implication is that content should also be useful as evidence within a generated response. Distinctive details, explicit comparisons and well-supported recommendations can make a page more relevant to questions where a single brand does not have the obvious answer.

The research is limited to the travel vertical, US English holiday prompts and the AI outputs studied. Gemini was not included. AI products, underlying models and answer formats can also change quickly, so the results should not be treated as a universal market share measure or a permanent visibility map.

Travel teams should therefore use the findings as a framework for their own analysis rather than as a ranking forecast. Separate the questions your audience asks into broad intent groups, such as booking, budget, inspiration, comparison and planning. Then identify where your site has genuine information advantages.

For a local publisher, that might mean practical guides built around a specific region and season. For a specialist agency, it could mean detailed explanations of travel constraints or decision criteria. For an ecommerce or travel business, it may mean pairing transactional pages with credible editorial content that helps people narrow their choices before they are ready to book.

Most importantly, track AI visibility by platform rather than assuming that traditional rankings explain what Google AI Overviews or ChatGPT will mention. The same brand leadership did not hold perfectly across the surfaces in BrightEdge’s dataset, and the intent of the prompt clearly influenced the sources and brands that appeared.

Travel visibility in AI answers cannot be inferred from conventional rankings alone. GEO Search Leads helps teams assess their website’s GEO readiness and identify content and entity-level optimization opportunities as AI discovery evolves. If your editorial or marketing plan depends on being found for inspiration and comparison searches, create a GEO Search Leads account to begin evaluating where your site may need attention.

What did BrightEdge measure in its travel AI search study?

BrightEdge analyzed 9,720 Google AI Overviews observations and 1,122 ChatGPT observations for US English holiday-travel prompts. It examined brand appearances across airlines, hotels, cruises and booking platforms.

Do the reported percentages represent rankings or bookings?

No. The percentages represent share of voice within the AI answers BrightEdge observed. They are not traditional search rankings, booking market share or a guarantee that an AI product will recommend a brand.

Why might smaller travel sites have an opportunity in AI search?

BrightEdge found that YouTube, Reddit and AAA appeared more prominently for inspiration queries. Smaller sites may be able to contribute distinctive firsthand experience, niche expertise and useful comparisons for questions where a large brand is not the only relevant source.

Can these findings be applied to every industry and AI platform?

No. The study covers travel, US English holiday prompts, Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT. Gemini was not included, and AI answer formats and models can change, so results may not generalize to other sectors or platforms.

BrightEdge’s study shows that established travel brands currently hold strong AI search visibility, especially for commercially focused questions. The more actionable lesson for smaller sites is to compete where their perspective is genuinely differentiated: inspiration, nuanced comparisons and experience-led travel guidance. Measuring that visibility separately by AI platform and query intent will be essential as AI discovery develops.