165 - Trusting your friendly AI
What does trust means. Airbnb going for loyalty. Banks as OTAs. Brand franchise costs. Aman founder and more.
Hello,
There’s no doubt that AI will be managing a larger part of our travel bookings. It’s so convenient. It isn’t a question of will AI book our stays but rather a question of when. Still, there’s a trust “score” AI agents will needs to earn. But there’s more on that in my column.
PS: If you haven’t filled out my survey, I’d love to have your reader feedback.
Best, Martin
Pragmatik builds high-converting
MQL engines through targeted content.
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Opinion
The currency of Trust
Attention is scarce, noise is growing. Everyone wants more attention. But I think there is another currency becoming even more valuable: trust.
Trust is not simply believing that someone gave you good advice. It is believing they will still be there when the advice goes wrong. That is where humans have an edge.
According to the LOMAR Dictionary, trust is defined as: “Belief that someone or something is honest, reliable, or will do what is right.”
When someone buys something, or a guest books a hotel, there is always a leap of faith. The photos, reviews, OTA rank, AI assistant recommendation, might all be excellent. But it is still a leap of faith.
But what happens when something goes wrong? None of the above will be there to help you (well, your AI assistant might say some kind words).
This is why we trust people differently (or not). We do not only judge the quality of their recommendation. We judge whether they have some responsibility for the outcome. Trust is connected to accountability.
On a completely unscientific Turst scale, I would rank friends and family first, colleagues and general word of mouth (includes reviews) second, influencers and media third, OTA rankings fourth, Google search fifth, and AI sixth. AI will probably move to second in a few years.
Luxury lives on trust. Their real product is not the leather, or the thread count. It is confidence. The guest believes it will work. And, more importantly, they believe someone capable will fix it if it doesn’t.
Brands are a substitute for trust. But independents can compete here too, often very effectively, because trust is mostly built through people being accountable. Marketing creates the promise, but trust is earned later.
So yes, we should automate payments, confirmations, reporting, inventory updates, and every repetitive process we can. But we should keep the people who step in when the process fails. Because eventually every process fails.
The future advantage of humans may not be that they give better answers than machines.
It may simply be that they stay and help when things went wrong.
About me: I'm a fractional CMO for large travel technology companies, and the co-founder of Pragmatik, an agency that drives MQLs through highly relevant content and distribution. You can find out more at wearepragmatik.com. Can banks become distribution?
Capital One Travel has expanded its Premier and Lifestyle Collections to more than 1,400 hotels. A few weeks ago it was VISA doing something similar. They know how you’re spending your money, it is an amazing personalization data point. But they don’t know why. Still it seems like every consumer brand is adding some level of advertising or distribution.
CURATED HOTEL STAYS
Hotels cannot outspend OTAs on AI
OTAs have decades of distribution experience, enormous data sets, and the scale to invest heavily in AI-powered discovery. They also have ad budgets in the billions. My estimate is that all hotels in the world, chains included, only spend half to 3/4 of what OTAs spend. The same happened with mobile. In short, hotels are unlikely to beat them by copying the same model. They need to work on other angles where OTAs aren’t likely to go. Probably for once, I would agree that having a good hotel blog can help.
AI HOTEL DISTRIBUTION
Airbnb’s $30 Billion Loyalty Opportunity
Airbnb is reportedly developing a loyalty program. These are more than rewards programs; they create data, partnerships, financial products, and a currency the company controls (plus ad opportunities). Airbnb has scale, and a strong brand, the main ingredients needed. Are they going to innovate here? like Amazon and Easyjet, or are they going to follow the legacy loyalty club and just do rewards?
AIRBNB LOYALTY
The World Cup was an ADR Event
Early results suggest FIFA World Cup match days drove ADR more strongly than occupancy. It kind of fits the narrative that tickets were priced higher as well. Because of the number of different locations, I hope revenue managers are taking all the data to build a model for future mega events. Because we’re still really not good at forecasting mega events.
WORLD CUP ADR
SEO, AEO, GEO and AISO
The expanding collection of search optimization acronyms. The labels can help explain different tactics, but they can also make a relatively simple principle unnecessarily complicated. Hotels still need accurate content, clear structure, authority, and a technically functional website. There is little value in optimizing for every new acronym before the basics work (also many results seem to just be based on AI labs scraping Google).
SEARCH OPTIMIZATION GLOSSARY

The Attention Crisis + Influencers
As audiences become harder to reach through regular advertising, creators are taking market share, while they still have trust. But that advantage disappears quickly when every post feels scripted or transactional. So do brands just build their own influencers? Is that even credible? Lots to work on there.
INFLUENCER MARKETING
Aman, Adrian Zecha, Feelings
The founder of Aman his lack of conventional hotel training may have helped him question assumptions about feelings and luxury should feel like. This short description is nice. But when I read this I wonder who build a luxury hotel and things anything else? Every proper luxury hotel is like this.
AMAN BRAND VISION
Brands getting cheaper
Hotel brands command higher rates. They’re also more expensive for owners. It looks like brands are lowering their franchise costs. Is there an over-supply of brands?
HOTEL FRANCHISE COSTS - HOTEL SUPPLY
Vendor consulted PMS
I’ve seen hotel groups select a PMS because it was cool. They told me that was the main reason. Good marketing does that. But it’s also not a great recipe for long term success. Emotion in B2B sales decision mostly amounts to removing fear of wrong choice. So others select just because it’s what they always did. Neither is great choice.
PMS BUYING
Accor wants student housing
Student housing is a particular growth sector, somewhat beyond normal hotels. The community aspect is real. But is this the same industry? I’m curious how this rolls out. Business travel has very different needs, families too.
ACCOR AND MELIA AND SOCIAL HUB
6 weeks to hotel system recovery
A luxury boutique hotel experienced failures across Opera, Delphi, and SynXis during a management transition, it took 6 weeks (!) to fix it. This case study is interesting and good to see how this works. What is interesting (and missing) is the concept of SaaS. In the hotel industry we’re so accustomed to buying software with zero service that we have a whole industry of consultants to take care of the software-as-a-service we’re paying for. It feels like tipping, you pay for the product but then you also pay to get the product.
SYSTEM RECOVERY
• Made in America over-regulation problem - Link
• Where to get inspiration for hospitality - Link⁺
• Matisse and colors - Link
• The Hotel Yearbook Goes All-In on AI - Link
Did you know: The word "trust" comes from the Old Norse word "traust," which means "confidence" or "help." It entered English in the Middle Ages and has kept a similar meaning about believing in someone or something. Defined using Lomar Dictionary⁺
When I saw the title "Can Banks Become the New Hotel Tastemakers?", I clicked immediately, then saw it was sponsored by Capital One... I'm curious to see if banks could outgrow the concept of airport lounges outside of airports. Why not have a Capital One member club directly where they have the most customers?