Incorporate ChatGPT into Your Propertie’s Digital Strategy as a Business Channel, Not a Novelty

For years, the digital strategy of accommodation businesses has revolved around a fairly familiar ecosystem: Google to capture existing demand, Meta to inspire potential guests, OTAs to provide visibility and, ideally, the hotel or accommodation website to turn that interest into direct bookings.

Now there is another player entering the customer journey: ChatGPT. And I believe the most interesting question is not whether it is the latest digital trend. The question is whether we can incorporate ChatGPT into an accommodation’s digital strategy as a measurable business channel.

That distinction matters. Because if we approach ChatGPT simply because “everyone is talking about AI”, we are starting from the wrong place. If we approach it as a new environment where travellers research, compare and make decisions, things become much more interesting.

Why incorporate ChatGPT into your accommodation’s digital strategy?

Think about how a traveller chooses accommodation. The process does not always begin with a transactional search such as “hotel in Malaga centre 12 October”. Long before that, there are questions.

Where should I stay for a weekend in Malaga? Which area is better if I am travelling with children? What type of accommodation would suit a romantic getaway? Which hotels have meeting spaces for 80 people? What should I consider when comparing different options?

This is where conversational environments become relevant. The presentation describes ChatGPT Ads as occupying a new moment in the customer journey between discovery, search and decision. While Meta Ads mainly helps generate demand and Google Ads is particularly effective at capturing existing demand, ChatGPT enters the picture while the user is investigating, asking questions and comparing alternatives.

In other words, there is an opportunity to gain visibility before intention turns into a purely transactional search.

ChatGPT Ads, Google Ads and Meta Ads: complementary rather than competing channels

I would not approach ChatGPT Ads as a replacement for Google Ads or Meta Ads. They respond to different behaviours and moments.

• Google Ads captures active demand when the traveller is already performing an explicit search.
• Meta Ads generates demand, awareness and consideration through audiences, interests and creative content.
• ChatGPT Ads operates around conversational intent, when the traveller is researching and comparing alternatives.

This distinction is particularly relevant in tourism because many purchase decisions require consideration. A wedding venue, corporate event space, family holiday, wellness break or premium stay can involve comparing location, capacity, services, price, facilities and availability before contacting or booking.

The longer and more complex the decision, the more interesting this conversational phase can become.

Forget exact keywords: context becomes crucial

There is another important change. According to the presentation, ChatGPT Ads does not work simply as a list of exact-match keywords. Ad selection considers several signals: the context and intention of the conversation, the landing page, the ad itself and the contextual hints provided by the advertiser.

For accommodation businesses, this has an obvious implication: the landing page cannot be an afterthought.

If I want to attract users considering a hotel for a corporate event, sending everyone to a generic homepage probably makes less sense than building a page specifically addressing event capacity, meeting rooms, catering, equipment, location and enquiry options.

In this new environment, good advertising and good content strategy increasingly go hand in hand.

Measure ChatGPT as a business channel, not an AI experiment

This, for me, is the key point. The presentation recommends starting to test ChatGPT Ads now, but evaluating it as a business channel rather than as a novelty.

That means avoiding the temptation to celebrate impressions and clicks simply because they come from a shiny new platform.

What should an accommodation business actually measure?

I would focus on metrics that connect advertising with commercial results: CPL or CPA, lead quality, conversion rate and incremental conversions. ChatGPT Ads already uses familiar performance concepts such as CPM, CPC, conversion optimisation and reporting of impressions, clicks, spend and conversions.

But a cheap click is not necessarily a good click. And a high CTR does not automatically mean more bookings.

The real question is: does this channel generate additional quality enquiries, leads or bookings at a competitive cost?

How I would test ChatGPT Ads for an accommodation business

I would start small. Not with a huge budget or an “AI strategy” stretching across 40 PowerPoint slides, but with a controlled pilot designed to learn.

1. Choose one high-value use case. Events, weddings, group stays, premium rooms or another service with a meaningful consideration phase can be good candidates.
2. Separate intentions. Different services should have different landing pages, messages and contextual signals.
3. Track everything. Use UTMs, conversion tracking and CRM data to understand what happens after the click.
4. Evaluate lead quality. Compare enquiries and bookings with those generated through Google Ads, Meta Ads and other acquisition channels.
5. Scale only when the numbers justify it. If CPL/CPA, conversion quality and incremental value are competitive, increase investment. If they are not, learn, adjust and retest.

The opportunity is to arrive before your competitors

ChatGPT Ads is still at an early stage, so formats, availability and capabilities can evolve. That is precisely why I would avoid making grand predictions.

But I would not ignore the behavioural change behind the channel either. Travellers are increasingly using conversational tools during processes that previously happened across search engines, websites, forums and comparison platforms.

For accommodation businesses, the opportunity is not simply “advertising on AI”. It is being present when a potential guest is building a decision.

Conclusion: turn ChatGPT into a measurable acquisition opportunity

I would therefore incorporate ChatGPT into the digital strategy of an accommodation business with the same discipline applied to any other performance channel: define its role, choose the right use cases, create relevant landing pages, track conversions and compare its contribution with the rest of the marketing mix.

Don’t test ChatGPT because it is new. Test it because your future guests may already be using it to decide where to stay, celebrate, meet or book.

If you manage an accommodation business, now is a good time to identify which part of your customer journey could benefit from conversational visibility and design a controlled test. The objective is not to be the first to try the latest trend. It is to discover whether ChatGPT can become your next profitable acquisition channel.

Want to turn your acquisition channels into business channels?

At WannaSherpa, we can help you analyse, optimise and connect your different acquisition channels around one common objective: generating business. From Google Ads and Meta Ads to SEO, content, analytics and emerging environments such as ChatGPT, we design data-driven strategies to identify the best opportunities, measure conversion quality and determine where your investment can deliver the greatest value. Because, as we have seen throughout this article, the goal is not to use a channel simply because it is new, but to understand whether it generates incremental leads, bookings and sales at a profitable cost. If you want to explore how ChatGPT could fit into your strategy while improving the overall performance of your accommodation’s digital acquisition channels, contact us and let’s talk about turning your digital channels into real business channels.