How artificial intelligence will change holiday accommodation bookings

Artificial intelligence is going to change holiday accommodation bookings a great deal, but it won't make Booking or the big platforms disappear. It gives everyone an advantage, including them. The real change is in how people book: the guest will stop spending an hour comparing prices on a screen and will instead ask an assistant to make the booking. For an owner, that means branding, being well connected and appearing in AI responses will matter more than having a nice website.

Change	What it means	What the owner can do
Connectors (MCP) in assistants	You can book through ChatGPT or Claude by asking in plain language, without opening the app	Work with managers and platforms that are connected to these assistants
Interfaces matter less	How nice the website looks matters less, and being well organised so the AI knows how to use it matters more	Keep the accommodation information clear, complete and up to date
Branding still counts	When someone thinks about booking, they still think of the brands they already know	Look after the experience so the guest returns and recommends you
Advertising within assistants	Sponsored recommendations are arriving within the response itself	Keep an eye on how it evolves and don't rely on a single channel
Large versus small	The big platforms move faster, but small ones can adapt sooner	Stand out with an excellent booking experience, even by voice

Will Booking disappear because of AI?

This is one of the questions holiday flat owners ask most often. At Nordik we believe not. Thinking Booking will disappear because of AI is like thinking Google would disappear because the internet existed. AI is a tool, and the big platforms have it as close at hand as anyone, often with more resources to use it.

What does change is the route to the booking. Before, the guest would open several tabs, compare photos, filter by price and click a number of buttons before paying. Now a single sentence to an assistant may be enough. To understand how that affects your flat, it's worth looking at the pieces one by one.

Connectors (MCP): booking by talking to an assistant

Assistants such as ChatGPT or Claude can already connect to applications through connectors (known as MCP). In practice it's like having the Booking app installed inside the assistant: you ask it to book you a night, it sees that you have the connector active, and it makes the booking for you.

This already happens with other services. With the connector for a ride-hailing app, instead of opening the app, you tell the assistant to order you a car to your location. The same will happen with holiday accommodation:

• The guest describes what they want in their own words: destination, number of nights, who the trip is for.
• The assistant searches the platforms it's connected to.
• It suggests options and, if the guest approves, books.

That doesn't mean people will stop booking on Booking. Booking will also be connected to these assistants, with powerful partnerships. For the owner, the question is different: is my accommodation on the channels the AI will turn to?

Interfaces matter less; brands don't

If the guest no longer has to click three or four buttons, it doesn't matter how nice a website or app looks. What matters is that the platform is well organised so language models can use it automatically. Interfaces tend to disappear.

Brands, on the other hand, don't. Nobody swaps the brand that comes to mind first, whether that's the world's most famous soft drink, Apple, a big sportswear chain, or Booking when it's time to book a flat. Technology is easy to copy and loses value; there are already AI tools capable of analysing a website and rebuilding it from scratch. What can't be copied overnight is the brand, or the flywheel created by scale: a huge investment in advertising and millions of guests who already know the platform.

For a small owner, the conclusion is clear: competing on pure technology is getting cheaper, but it also gives less and less of an edge. What adds up in the long run is guests remembering you.

Big platforms versus small managers

Large companies have AI working in their favour and can move much faster than a small manager. Even so, they sometimes take longer to bring in new processes and technology because their own structure feels threatened. A startup simply wants to grow fast and packs in as much technology as it can.

This already happened with the internet and with machine learning: some long-established companies lost their place. It could happen again, but it's not that simple. For the owner, the sensible approach is not to bet everything on the big players falling, and instead make the most of what they offer alongside what AI brings.

Advertising on ChatGPT: sponsored recommendations

OpenAI already allows companies to advertise on ChatGPT. These won't be banners, but recommendations woven into the response itself, written like the rest of the text.

There's an obvious risk here. ChatGPT got us used to answers that seemed objective, and knowing that a recommendation might be paid for takes away credibility. This already happened with Google: the first results tend to be adverts. Nobody yet knows how this format will evolve in holiday lets, so it's worth watching closely without relying on it alone.

What a holiday flat owner can do today

Without needing to be a technology expert, there are decisions that prepare you for this change:

• Look after the guest experience. A returning guest is the best brand a small accommodation can have.
• Keep information organised. Description, amenities, check-in and check-out times and house rules, clear and up to date, so both a person and an assistant can understand them.
• Choose carefully who manages it. If you delegate, ask how they plan to adapt to AI assistants and connectors. In our guide letting agency versus managing it yourself we go over the pros and cons.
• Don't rely on a single channel. Platforms will remain important, but direct booking and your own brand provide stability.
• Look calmly at the numbers. Before investing in tools, check the actual profitability of a holiday flat in Málaga.

What we do at Nordik

Nordik doesn't compete with Booking. Booking brings together many managers in one place, and our competition is hotels and other flats. We believe booking is going to change, and this is how we're preparing:

• An assistant you can talk to and book with. We're developing it so you can book without looking at the screen. For example: "I want to go to Málaga for two nights, what do you recommend?" Or, for a group, "it's for a wedding with 50 people", and the assistant suggests how to combine nearby accommodation until there's enough capacity.
• Connectors for AI. We're going to implement MCP connectors so assistants can offer the direct Nordik option.
• Brand. We're investing in it because it works: some guests have already booked with us five or six times.
• Ranking. We publish articles, blog posts and case studies to appear in assistants' responses.

You can already book directly on our website today, with clear information. For example, Östersund, a flat in Trinidad, from €87 (price updated on 2026-10-21), or the Dalvík room, in Centro, from €59. At all our properties check-in is at 15:00 and check-out at 10:00, with self check-in: we explain how it works in how Nordik's self check-in works.

Our conclusion: Booking won't disappear overnight, but small businesses have an opportunity. They can make booking so easy, even by voice, that it makes the difference, building up a brand and a portfolio of guests little by little.

Book directly with Nordik

If you're looking for accommodation, the simplest way to book with us is directly at nordikcompany.com: choose your dates, see availability instantly and confirm without going through intermediaries.

Last checked: 21/10/2026