The way travelers discover vacation rentals is expanding, and it’s happening faster than most operators realize.

Search hasn’t gone away. But it’s no longer the only place decisions begin.

A few years ago, a family planning a trip to the Smoky Mountains might have opened Google, searched “best cabin rentals in the Smoky Mountains,” clicked through multiple listings, compared options, read reviews, and eventually booked.

Today, that same family is just as likely to open ChatGPT and ask, “Where should my family of six stay near the Great Smoky Mountains with a hot tub and good hiking access?”

Within seconds, they’re presented with a short list of recommendations. They verify a couple of details, maybe watch a few videos on social media, and book.

What used to take dozens of clicks now happens inside a single conversation.

And if your brand isn’t part of that conversation, it’s not because you lost a ranking. It’s because the landscape where discovery happens has widened.

For years, the path to booking a vacation rental followed a familiar pattern.

A traveler would open Google, scroll through organic results, click into a handful of listings, compare options, and eventually book.

To capture that traffic, operators invested heavily in search engine optimization. Keyword targeting, backlinks, meta descriptions, site speed, and technical performance became core priorities.

And for a long time, that approach worked.

Visibility was largely measured by one thing: where you ranked on page one.

That foundation still matters. But it no longer tells the full story of how travelers discover and choose where to stay.

Over the past year, AI-powered search tools have moved from novelty to mainstream.

Platforms like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Gemini don’t simply return a list of links. They synthesize information, surface recommendations, and curate results based on what a traveler is actually trying to solve.

According to Phocuswright, nearly 40% of U.S. travelers used generative AI tools when researching their trips in 2025, an 11-point jump in just one year. That’s a meaningful change in where many travel searches now begin.

Google isn’t standing still either. The search giant is actively embedding AI into its core experience through AI Overviews. According to Skift’s AI, Google, and the Shift from Keywords to Context in Travel article, AI visibility in the travel sector has tripled since late 2024.

For travel brands, this signals a broader change. Visibility is no longer limited to traditional rankings. It increasingly depends on how, and whether, a brand appears in AI-generated answers that now occupy prime space at the top of the page.

The platforms are evolving. And guest behavior is evolving with them.

The traditional guest journey involved multiple steps: search, scroll, click, compare, decide. Travelers often visited dozens of websites before making a choice.

Today, for a growing number of travelers, that journey is far more compressed.

Many travelers now ask AI a question, receive a short list of recommendations, do a quick verification, and book. When someone asks ChatGPT for vacation rental suggestions, they’re trusting the AI to curate options for them. The consideration set is often determined before a website is ever visited.

According to Phocuswright’s Travel Forward 2026 report, search engines, once dominant for trip research, are losing ground. Their share dropped from 51% in late 2024 to 36% by the second half of 2025, while generative AI platforms surged from 6% to 15% in the same period.

How travelers phrase their queries is changing as well. Instead of typing “Asheville cabin rental,” they’re asking, “Where should my family of six stay near Asheville with a hot tub and good hiking access?”

Search is becoming conversational. And a growing segment of travelers is no longer browsing dozens of links. They’re using AI to narrow down their options before comparing details.

For operators, this has meaningful implications for visibility and discovery.

A growing segment of travelers is beginning their search outside traditional results. If your brand isn’t appearing in AI-generated answers, it simply isn’t part of the options being considered by that audience.

This introduces an important distinction: being listed versus being recommended.

Being listed means showing up in search results. Being recommended means being cited by AI as a trusted response to a traveler’s question.

According to Skift Research, AI visibility in travel has quadrupled in just six months (November 2024 to April 2025). Google’s AI Overviews, the summaries now appearing at the top of many search results, are showing up on an increasing share of travel queries. With features like AI Mode, Google is moving beyond keyword matching and toward conversational answers.

These changes take up prime space on the results page and are training travelers to search differently.

As a result, visibility is no longer only about ranking. The recommendation layer is becoming an increasingly important part of how brands are discovered.

So what does this mean for your approach? The playbook isn’t being replaced. It’s expanding.

Visibility now requires a layered approach. Not a single tactic, but a broader way of thinking about how discovery happens today.

At a high level, it looks like this:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Ranking in traditional search results. This remains the foundation. Keywords, backlinks, technical optimization. It’s not going away.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Appearing as the direct answer in featured snippets, voice search, and AI Overviews. This relies on structured content, clear FAQ sections, and schema markup that helps engines understand and surface your information.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
Being cited by large language models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. This is driven by authority signals such as third-party mentions, reputation, consistency, and genuinely helpful content across the web.

These aren’t competing strategies. They’re complementary layers. SEO remains the foundation. AEO positions you for direct answers. GEO earns you AI recommendations.
You don’t need to master all three overnight. But understanding that visibility now has multiple dimensions, and that the landscape is expanding, is an important first step.

Operators who invest across these layers will have the strongest foundation for what’s coming next.

The shift may feel overwhelming, but the good news is that you can still take control. There are practical actions you can take now to build visibility.

Build a strong direct booking website.
Your website is your home base. It should be clear, fast, and easy for both travelers and AI tools to understand. Structured data and schema markup help search engines and AI systems accurately read, interpret, and reference your content.


Create content that answers real traveler questions.
Think about how your ideal guest would ask AI for recommendations. What would they type? Build content around those natural language queries, not just keywords.

This could include:


• FAQ sections on your website that address common questions
• Blog posts or guides about your area (things to do, where to eat, travel tips)
• Property descriptions that explain who the stay is best for, not just what it includes
• Landing pages for specific traveler types like families, large groups, or couples.

The goal is to be genuinely helpful and specific. Generic content is easy to overlook. Content that clearly answers real questions about your market, your properties, and your guest experience is far more likely to be referenced by AI.


Claim and optimize your business listings.
Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and industry directories all feed into how AI gathers information. Keep your name, address, phone, and website consistent across every platform.


Earn third-party mentions and citations.
AI tools pull insights from across the web. Mentions on travel blogs, local guides, news sites, and directories strengthen your authority and increase the likelihood of being included in AI-generated recommendations.


Strengthen your reputation.
Reviews and testimonials play a meaningful role in how credibility is evaluated. Encourage guests to leave reviews and respond to them consistently. A strong reputation builds trust, and trust is what leads to recommendations.

You don’t need to do everything at once. Start with one or two areas, build from there, and treat visibility as something you strengthen over time.

AI visibility has many components. Some are technical, like structured data and website optimization. Others are built over time through reputation, guest experience, and direct relationships. Lasoh helps strengthen that second layer.

When AI tools decide which brands to recommend, they look for trust signals. Reviews, reputation, third-party mentions, and consistent guest experiences all play a role in how a brand is evaluated. Lasoh helps operators build and reinforce those signals in a systematic way.

Collect more reviews. 

Reviews remain one of the strongest indicators of trust for both search engines and AI. Lasoh makes it easy to request reviews at the right moment, helping you build a steady flow of feedback that strengthens credibility across platforms.

Capture guest data beyond the booker.

Most reservations include multiple guests, yet operators usually only have contact details for the person who booked. Lasoh captures information for the entire group, creating more opportunities to build relationships, request reviews, and encourage repeat stays.

Build direct relationships that reduce platform dependence. 

The more guests you can bring back directly, the less reliant you are on any single discovery channel, whether that’s OTAs, traditional search, or AI tools. Lasoh helps you stay connected with past guests through personalized communication and remarketing, turning one-time stays into long-term loyalty.

The way travelers discover vacation rentals may be evolving, but the fundamentals remain the same. Great guest experiences lead to strong reviews. Strong reviews build trust. And trust is what earns recommendations, whether they come from a friend, a search engine, or AI.

Lasoh helps you build that foundation.

Before you move on, take a few minutes to explore how your brand shows up today.

Open a new conversation in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude and ask for vacation rental recommendations in your market, phrased the way a real traveler would. 

Try something like, “Best cabin rentals near Asheville for a family” or “Where should a group of 10 stay in Gulf Shores?”

For Google’s AI Overviews, use incognito mode and log out of your account to see a less personalized view.

Testing across a few AI tools gives you a clear, well-rounded picture of your current visibility.

What appears? Is your brand referenced? Are competitors showing up? Are OTAs taking most of the recommendations?

That’s your baseline. Not a verdict, just a starting point.

Understanding how discovery is evolving is the first step. The real opportunity comes from knowing where you stand and making intentional choices from there.

The good news is that this landscape is still taking shape. Operators who start paying attention now have the advantage of building thoughtfully, not reactively, and will be well positioned for the next era of direct bookings.

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