Aim & Grace, an integrated PR & marketing agency, has released its How Travel Brands Can Win in the Age of AI report, which reveals a gap in AI visibility – and finds that it doesn’t always follow brand size.
Drawing on morethan 800 travel searches across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI, the report found that several of the world’s largest destinations, hotel groups, OTAs, airlines and household-name tour operators appeared less often than their scale might suggest, while smaller, specialist and more distinctive brands often showed up more.
Across all questions, the travel brands that showed up the most were Intrepid Travel and G Adventures, with airlines, cruise lines, specialist tour operators and family attractions also featuring strongly.
Hilton, Marriott, IHG and Hyatt were named, but never consistently, and OTAs and booking platforms featured surprisingly little. Familiar UK tour operators were largely missing too: Saga and Cosmos barely appeared, and Titan Travel, Shearings and Great Rail Journeys were nowhere to be seen, despite strong representation from adventure and luxury specialists.
Grace Parker, Co-Founder of Aim & Grace, said: “Travellers are already asking AI where to go, where to stay and what to do – and the answers aren’t simply going to the biggest brands. AI search platforms recommend what they read about most, in the publishers, specialist sites and communities they trust. That makes AI search visibility a PR and brand strategy question, not just a search question.”
The full report, including the detailed answers on which destinations are recommended, media sources AI relies on most and six principles for marketing in the age of AI, is available at aimandgrace.com/2026-ai-travel-report
