Hotels Are Losing Travelers’ Discovery Window — And Scrambling to Get It Back
Photo Credit: From left: Neal Jones of Marriott International, Peter Krueger of TUI Group, Barbara Muckermann of Kempinski, Dillip Rajakarier of Minor Hotels, Simon Vincent of Hilton, and Kenneth Hatton of CBRE. IHIF EMEA 2026 / Simon Callaghan Photography.
Skift Take
Hotels are no longer just competing at booking. As discovery shifts to social platforms, recommendations, and artificial intelligence tools, big groups are trying to shape demand much earlier.
Hotels are now competing earlier in the travel journey as discovery shifts to social platforms, recommendations, and AI tools.
At the International Hospitality Investment Forum (IHIF) in Berlin earlier this week, executives from Hilton, Marriott, TUI, Minor, and Kempinski outlined how they’re responding to an increase in travelers deciding what kind of trip they want long before a hotel brand enters the picture.
“From a search perspective, people type in ‘Give me the best diving spots in Africa.’ They don't say they want to go to a four-star, five-star hotel,” Peter Krueger, CEO of TUI Holiday Experiences, said. “The search behavior is changing, and therefore we have to change how we promote our products.”
That creates a new problem for hotel groups. They used to fight hardest when trave
