How AI Is Curating Your Property’s Reputation
What today’s travelers see, what they don’t—and how to stay ahead
In our recent post, The Illusion of Precision, we explored how emotionally uneven labels and flawed assumptions in online review scores—often measured to the tenth of a point—can mislead both travelers and hoteliers.
But while average scores still carry weight, a new shift is already underway. Today’s travelers aren’t just scanning star ratings or reading dozens of guest comments. Increasingly, AI is doing the work for them—sometimes without them even realizing it. From summaries on search engines to recommendations embedded in trip planning tools, AI is already shaping what travelers see and how they choose—even if they think they’re “just googling.”
AI Is Rewriting the Guest Journey
For years, reviews have been among the most influential factors in booking behavior. Surveys consistently show that the vast majority of travelers read online reviews before booking—and consider them essential to their decision-making process.¹ ² But how they access and interpret that information has evolved.
Where Guests Encounter AI-Curated Reviews
Google AI Overviews
Search results often include instant summaries—like “great breakfast,” “modern rooms,” or “noisy at night”—pulled from sentiment patterns in guest reviews. AI is shaping perceptions, even before guests click through.
ChatGPT & Gemini Travel Queries
Travelers use general-purpose AI platforms to ask questions like “What are the best boutique hotels near Central Park?” These tools analyze and summarize review themes, not just numerical ratings.
AI-Powered Travel Assistants (e.g., GuideGeek)
Tools like GuideGeek—an AI assistant launched by Matador Network—are enabling travel planning via messaging apps. Available on platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram, GuideGeek surfaces sentiment-based hotel suggestions (“cozy,” “family‑friendly,” “luxury feel”) and itinerary ideas based on user input.³
Travelers are being influenced by the narrative AI pulls from guest reviews—not just the score at the top of the page. According to a 2024 global survey, 40% of travelers have used AI tools for trip planning³—illustrating just how often their bookings may now be shaped by machine-generated summaries, not just manual review-reading.
What Can Hoteliers Do to Keep Up?
AI is already shaping how your property is perceived—whether you have been aware of it or not. To stay competitive, hotel teams should take steps that give them visibility into emerging themes, faster responses to problems, and more control over how feedback influences future bookings. AI doesn’t just read review scores—it scans for patterns, amplifies recurring phrases, and emphasizes recent content. That means:
•Review scores are only part of the story. AI highlights recurring terms—like “musty room” or “great breakfast”—even if average ratings are high.
•Fresh feedback matters more. Many AI tools surface recent reviews first, so current experiences can outweigh long-term averages.
•Language defines narrative. A few repeated complaints may carry more weight than dozens of high scores.
So how can you stay ahead?
Monitor Guest Sentiment at Scale
With thousands of guest comments spread across review platforms, social media, and surveys, manually identifying recurring themes is no longer sustainable. That’s where tools like ELLA come in—GuestInsight’s AI assistant that helps hotel teams triage guest feedback—analyzing, prioritizing, and organizing it at speed and scale—so they can act on what matters most without the time and cost of doing it manually. ELLA works across both online reviews and guest survey data, surfacing actionable insights quickly so hotels can respond before small issues become big ones.
Use Private Feedback to Spot Trends Early
Post-stay surveys allow you to hear from a much broader sample of guests than public review sites typically capture. Our data shows that hotels receive over 10x more feedback from surveys than from online reviews. When this feedback is structured and consistent, it highlights operational friction points—and gives you a chance to fix them before they impact your public reputation.
Encourage Positive Reviews, Authentically
When guests leave strong private feedback, a simple, in-survey prompt to share it publicly can help your best experiences reach a wider audience—without asking every guest for a review. This helps balance your online profile and reinforces the themes you want both future guests—and AI tools—to notice.
Looking Ahead
AI is becoming central to how travelers find, evaluate, and choose hotels. Even if they’re not actively using AI tools, many guests are already seeing recommendations shaped by machine learning—where summaries, search results, and suggestions are based on patterns in your reviews. That means your review content—and the recurring themes within it—is increasingly being processed and surfaced automatically, in formats designed to save travelers time and effort.
That’s why hotel teams need tools that can help them keep pace. Instead of trying to manually sift through every comment, it’s time to explore solutions—like ELLA—that can analyze and organize feedback at speed and scale, so you can act on what matters most.
Because in this new landscape, it’s not just guests who are skimming your reviews. The AI you want recommending your property already has—faster than you can.
¹ TrustYou Research
² TripAdvisor Survey
³ Statista; Matador Network reporting