Answers for lodge owners

Does a booking-site listing help AI find your lodge? AI sent travellers to booking sites 13% of the time, own websites 43%.

Your own website does more: in October 2026, when AI assistants named a place to stay in Southern Africa, they sent the traveller to the business’s own website 43% of the time and to a booking site 13% of the time [1].

Facts checked 22 October 2026. Each number in brackets links to its source.

Where do AI assistants send travellers?

To the business’s own website 43% of the time, and to a booking site 13% of the time, in October 2026 [1].

When the guest then books through a booking site, the lodge pays commission on the whole booking [2]: 15% as standard on the largest one in South Africa, 18% or 23% for more visibility [3].

Why your own website matters to AI assistants

The assistant companies say their web answers cite the pages they used: ChatGPT [4], Google [5], Copilot [6], Perplexity [7] and Claude [8].

Bing asks for the important information to be visible on the page itself [9]. Google builds business profiles partly from the business’s own website [10].

What to do with your booking-site listing

Keep it if it brings you guests, and make sure every fact on it is also on your own website, where AI assistants can read and cite it [9].

Since 13 August 2024 the largest booking site may not stop you offering a lower price on your own website [11]. Read can a booking site stop you charging less on your own website.

More answers for lodge owners

What we do for a place to stay, for one flat monthly fee: the Playbook.

Sources for this page

  1. Nice to Find You, October 2026 Index. Dated October 2026; checked 22 October 2026.
  2. The largest booking site's partner help, commission. Dated updated about June 2026; checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Competition Commission, Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry, final report. Dated July 2023; checked 22 October 2026.
  4. OpenAI Help, Searching the web with ChatGPT. Dated 20 October 2026; checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Google Search Central, AI features and your website. Dated 10 December 2025; checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Microsoft Support, Copilot privacy FAQ. No date shown; checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Perplexity, Crawlers and How does Perplexity work. Dated 28 August 2026; checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Anthropic Help, Enable and use web search. No date shown; checked 22 October 2026.
  9. Bing Webmaster Guidelines. No date shown; checked 22 October 2026.
  10. Google Business Profile Help, where information comes from. No date shown; checked 22 October 2026.
  11. Competition Commission, settlement statement. Dated 13 August 2024; checked 22 October 2026.