As the 2026 spring break season approached in the Northern Hemisphere, new waves of consumers used LLMs to make their travel plans. There are dozens of mainstream online travel agencies (OTAs) and accommodation aggregators to choose from.
However, LLMs recommended just a small handful in response to prompts about finding the best hotel deals.
Booking.com led with 55% visibility, closely followed by Expedia at 54% visibility, according to our GenAI analysis.
Both popular aggregator sites achieved high visibility across target prompts, though important nuances emerged between consumer asks focused on luxury, solo travel, and safety. Overall, our exploration revealed how consumers experience AI-driven travel discovery — including how LLM platforms elevate certain brands, shape perceived value, and reinforce narratives about credibility within the European hospitality market.
Methodology: The findings below refer to GenAI Lens data evaluating responses from eight LLMs — ChatGPT, Claude, Deepseek, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Grok, Llama, and Perplexity — over the three-week period from February 18 to March 11, 2026.
Our analysis centered on four structured prompts reflecting common travel-planning scenarios in relation to spring 2026 trips in Europe:
- What are the best hotel deals in Europe in spring 2026?
- What are the best hotel deals for luxury hotels in Europe in spring 2026?
- I’m planning a solo trip to Europe in spring 2026. What are the best-value hotel deals right now, ideally in well-located, mid-range or boutique hotels?
- I’m a woman traveling solo in Europe in spring 2026. What are the best hotel deals in safe, well-located areas with good reviews?
LLMs Recommended Booking.com and Expedia Most Across Travel Prompts and Models
Both Booking.com (55% visibility) and Expedia (54% visibility) dominated AI-generated OTA recommendations for Europe in spring 2026. Together, they appear in nearly half of all AI responses, consistently achieving high prominence placement across analyzed prompts and models. Tripadvisor came in third place, though at a significant distance from the first two with 32% visibility.
However, as we’re seeing consistently in these analyses, AI visibility varies widely across models:
- Meta’s Llama most frequently recommended Booking.com.
- xAI’s Grok tied Booking.com and Expedia for top visibility.
- Perplexity, by contrast, surfaced Tripadvisor most often.
Booking.com is the first aggregator website mentioned in this prompt response from Meta Llama analyzed within GenAI Lens.
Overall, Booking.com slightly outperformed Expedia in LLM visibility thanks to its prevalence across our prompts exploring varying travel scenarios. Models like Google AI Overviews highlighted early booking discounts (15%+), Genius loyalty benefits, and flexible cancellation policies tied to premium properties. For other OTAs and aggregators, emphasizing loyalty building features like these could aid in boosting LLM visibility.
Tripadvisor Gained LLM Visibility in Prompts About Luxury Hotels and Women’s Solo Trips
As seen in the table below highlighting brand, keyword, sentiment, source, and model variations across the personas we analyzed, responses vary meaningfully across prompts. For example, LLMs (and by extension the OTA and aggregator websites they pull from) mentioned Paris, Italy, and Rome most in response to our luxury prompt. Those locations were replaced by Amsterdam and Lisbon for both our solo trip prompts. Meanwhile, when it comes to primary source types, editorial luxury influenced our luxury prompt responses most, while review sites were the top influences of our solo trip prompts. For brands looking to impact the LLM-driven narratives about them, monitoring and optimizing for target associations is key to differentiating.
The most striking of these variations: Tripadvisor was not the most visible OTA overall, but it achieved the second-highest visibility (47%) in both luxury hotel prompts and women’s solo travel prompts. For luxury travelers, LLMs highlighted filter tools, price alerts, and value rankings for spa resorts, positioning it as a decision-support platform. For women traveling solo, best-rated and boutique filters along with peer reviews were the qualities that caught AI attention.
So while Tripadvisor lacked the broad dominance of Expedia and Booking.com, it did achieve prominence in specific travel scenarios. It seems that the site’s combination of search features and UGC helped it cover wider ground among consumers with more specified needs.
Final Thoughts
As LLMs increasingly steer how travelers discover and evaluate booking platforms, AI visibility is reshaping the competitive landscape for OTAs and other accommodation booking platforms. In short: AI optimization is the new travel marketing battleground. Based on our analysis above, strategies for boosting AI visibility include:
- Optimize on owned websites for prominence placement: Booking.com’s dominance correlates with early positioning and specialized webpages that LLMs pulled from. Use structured FAQ pages and schema markup targeting highly specific prompts like “Best hotel deals Europe Spring 2026.”
- Emphasize unique UX and capabilities. To avoid being seen as just another price-comparison platform, expand owned content to highlight flexibility (free cancellation, payment options), loyalty benefits, curated collections, and premium or differentiated stay experiences. Based on the most-mentioned locations, there may also be opportunities to target high-intent travelers interested in more off-the-beaten-path destinations.
- Track model-specific performance: Booking.com visibility ranges from 30% to 89% by model. AI optimization must be model-aware.
- Strengthen review integration: UGC may have helped Tripadvisor stand apart in more specified travel scenarios. Hosting verified user reviews on owned websites helps build trust and brings authentic, personal, AI-visibility boosting content home.
FAQ: Online Travel Agency and Accommodation Booking Platform AI Visibility Performance
Does OTA visibility vary across AI models?
Yes. Meltwater’s GenAI Lens found significant model variance in OTA visibility.
For example:
- Booking.com ranged from 30% visibility in ChatGPT to 89% in Meta Llama.
- Expedia ranged from 20% in ChatGPT to 88% in Grok.
- Tripadvisor was strongly amplified in Perplexity (54%) and Grok (86%) but weak in Claude and ChatGPT.
This confirms that OTA exposure in AI results is architecture-dependent and not uniform across platforms.
How does prompt framing affect AI hotel recommendations?
Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis shows that prompt intent shifts how AI frames hotel recommendations, even when dominant brands remain consistent.
Luxury Prompt
- Booking.com leads (61% visibility)
- Tripadvisor strengthens (47%)
- Language emphasizes “Deals + Luxury”
- Editorial luxury sources are frequently cited
Solo Trip Prompt
- Booking.com (69%) and Expedia (60%) reinforce dominance
- Language emphasizes “Deals + Value”
- Review platforms increase in prominence
Solo Trip (Women) Prompt
- Booking.com remains strong (61%)
- Tripadvisor gains (47%)
- “Safety” rises to 73% visibility
- Review and safety-focused blogs dominate citations
Which European cities received the most AI amplification in prompts about spring 2026 hotel deals?
Meltwater’s GenAI Lens found that destination visibility varies by travel context.
Luxury Context:
- Paris – 63% visibility
- Italy – 50%
- Rome – 44%
Solo Travel Context:
- Amsterdam – 81%
- Lisbon – 59%
- Copenhagen – 56%
Paris shows the strongest cross-model consistency overall, while Lisbon holds the highest sentiment score (63%). AI appears to associate Paris with luxury, and Amsterdam and Lisbon with safety and functional solo travel.
What does sentiment analysis show about OTA positioning?
Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis of spring 2026 European hotel deals found that OTA sentiment is stable but emotionally flat.
- Sentiment range: 55–64% across major brands
- No brand falls below neutral (50%)
- No brand exceeds 70%
AI platforms frame OTAs as reliable, transactional utilities rather than emotionally differentiated or premium brands.
Why does Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis matter for travel brands?
Meltwater’s GenAI Lens analysis of spring 2026 European hotel deals demonstrates that AI systems have the power to shape early-stage travel discovery before consumers reach traditional search engines or booking sites.
Key implications:
- OTA visibility is highly concentrated on LLMs.
- Model differences are significant and consequential.
- Prompt framing reveals brand visibility ranking variances.
- LLMs actively shape consumer associations with travel decisions.
As consumers increasingly use generative AI to plan travel, optimizing for LLM visibility is becoming as critical as SEO and paid media in the European hospitality market.
