What we learned at the Tourism Innovation Summit, and what it means for your property

In early October I spent two days at the Tourism Innovation Summit (TIS) in Seville, Spain. Hotel groups, OTAs, Google, Tripadvisor, tourism boards and EU policy makers were all under one roof, talking about where travel is heading and hosting intimate panel discussions.

Three themes came up in almost every session:

1. Guests are asking AI where to stay, and many properties don't show up.
2. Trust is becoming the thing that wins the booking.
3. As AI spreads, the people behind a stay matter even more.

For each one you'll find what the speakers said, how we're responding at Springnest, and what you can do yourself this month.

Guests are asking AI where to stay

I feel like this is general knowledge by now, but it was definitely validated at TIS: an increasing percentage of travellers now ask an AI assistant to recommend a place, instead of scrolling through search results. If the AI can't read and understand your property, you're simply left out of the answer.

What we heard

• Radisson found it was invisible. Raúl Álvarez Barrera, who leads digital at Radisson, said their search traffic fell by about 20% before they realised AI tools weren't recommending their hotels at all in some destinations. They rebuilt their entire content strategy and the way their pages are created on their site, from the ground up, and traffic is growing again (imagine how expensive that must have been for a brand with over 1500 hotels...)
• Small properties can win here. Raúl's most hopeful point (for smaller properties): a well-prepared hotel outside the city centre can appear first, ahead of the big chains, if those chains haven't done the work. Being "big" is no longer enough.
• Three ingredients. He said AI tools look for reputation (reviews and mentions elsewhere), content that answers real guest questions (his example was "what are the vegan breakfast options?"), and a website that is easy for AI to read.
• Better, not more. Celia Díaz Segovia, Communications Manager for VisitBritain, put it simply: "We don't need to create more content, we need to create better content." Search shows what's available. AI shows what's right for this particular guest.
• Keep it in proportion. Raúl estimated AI tools bring only around 5% of bookings today. Another panel predicted AI booking assistants will bring at least 20% of new customers by the end of 2027. Small now, growing fast.

How Springnest is responding

• Every Springnest site already includes the technical foundation and setup that helps AI tools read and understand your property, including structured information about your rooms, location and facilities.
• You can choose how AI tools are allowed to use your content, in the new AI Visibility tab in Springnest Settings.
• With FAQ pages, you can create simple, factual information about your property in a format that AI agents can understand and contextualise.
• We're focusing our next work on helping you answer the questions guests actually ask, in plain language on your own site.

What you can do this month

1. Try the AI self-test. This one comes from Alba Rueda of Cometa Web, who shared it on stage. Ask an AI assistant (such as ChatGPT or Gemini) the way a guest would, without your name. For example: "Quiet place to stay near the beach in [your town] for a couple, what do you recommend?" Then check: do you appear, how are you described, who is recommended instead, and which websites does it quote?
2. Ask yourself Alba's hard question. Does your own website explain your property better than your Booking.com listing does? If not, that's where to start.
3. Add a few real answers. Write short answers to the questions guests email you about most: parking, breakfast times, dietary options, how far the beach is. A simple FAQ page is perfect.
4. Check you're consistent. Your name, address, room types and facilities should match on your website, Google Business Profile and booking listings.

2. Trust is what wins the booking

When anyone can produce content in seconds, guests and AI tools both look harder at what they can trust. Reviews, honest prices and good service are moving from important to essential.

What we heard

• Unanswered reviews are the real problem. Jesús Menéndez, President of the Asociación Española de Hoteles, said most of Spain's 18,000 hotels are independents, many with fewer than 25 rooms, and that "you have a lot of reviews and nobody answers." The reasons he gave ranged from capacity to the digital proficiency of small independent accommodation owners.
• Negative is not the same as fake. Fabrizio Orlando, Director at Tripadvisor, said: "We need to make a distinction between fake review and negative review." Tripadvisor removed 2.7 million reviews last year, and owners can flag reviews that break the rules.
• Video reviews are arriving. Tripadvisor has started accepting video reviews, and younger travellers increasingly trust short videos over written reviews.
• AI booking assistants will expose tricks. On a panel about AI agents, speakers agreed these tools will always hunt for the cheapest genuine rate. Fuzzy discounts and pricing tricks will be found out quickly. Honest prices and real perks will stand out.
• Real loyalty comes from care. The same panel said loyalty is built when something goes wrong on a trip and the provider fixes it. An AI tool can't do that for you. (Yet).

How Springnest is responding

• I flagged Fabrizio Orlando down after his session to pick his brain on the laws and policies around scraping OTA reviews (we've had an uptick in Springnest users using tools like Elfsight to showcase aggregated review widgets, and while that's not a massive undertaking for us to build natively, the ethics behind it always turned us off the idea). He verified this for me, and offered to put me in touch with the right department at Tripadvisor to discuss options for review API access conditions. Let's see.
• Curating and adding your most valuable reviews to your Reviews page (especially those mentioning the benefits and features you use to differentiate yourself in the market), will help you prepare your own website for this new era of reviews as contextual information for AI.
• While review data is nuanced, OTA award badges generally aren't. While they don't offer the same valuable details and context as reviews, they can still build trust. Look out for our revised Awards widget, with a direct integration with the fine folks at Lekkeslaap.

Lekke.

What you can do this month

1. Reply to every review. Good and bad, on Google, Tripadvisor and Booking.com. Short and personal is fine. If languages are a barrier, an AI tool can help you draft a reply in the guest's language.
2. Claim your listings. Make sure you control your Google Business Profile and Tripadvisor page. Some owners are listed without ever setting it up.
3. Flag what's genuinely false. A review for the wrong property, or a stay that never happened, can be reported. A fair negative review is better answered than fought.
4. Give direct guests a real incentive. A welcome drink, late check-out or local tip is worth more than a small discount an AI tool can match elsewhere.

3. The people behind a stay matter even more

The most reassuring message of the summit: as AI makes content cheap and similar, your own story, your local knowledge and your welcome become your edge. This is where independents are naturally strong.

What we heard

• Tourism is a human industry. In her opening keynote, Tina O'Dwyer said: "We are in the industry of humanity, the industry of difference." She also asked the room a good question about all this technology: "Yes, we can innovate. But why are we doing it?" (leading to an inspirational segment about vision and purpose)
• Stories create value. Anastasia Varnavskaya, Founder at Fortuda and Mentor at Women in Tech, said: "A story doesn't decorate value, it creates value." She warned that if you ask ChatGPT to write your story, you'll get the same story as everyone else.
• AI personalises, people make it real. Celia Díaz Segovia (VisitBritain): "The AI can provide the personalisation, but the human touch provides the authenticity." Travellers increasingly want to travel like a local, with insider knowledge.
• People before tools. In a panel titled "CapEx or TechEx? Where should hotels invest first?", José Rodríguez, CEO of Sercotel, put it bluntly (if you've met me you'd know I appreciate bluntness): "Technology without talent is absolutely nothing."

Guests need guiding. Jaime Gonzalo, Vice President at Huawei Europe, said "We shouldn't overestimate a traveller's ability to find their own way. Someone who has seen the main sight by 11am still has a whole day ahead. Good local suggestions keep guests happier, and often staying longer."

How Springnest is responding

• Your website is inherently one of the most authentic channels for your brand, because it's the one where you own the narrative and your content. Through features like Springnest Articles, Brand and Story pages, the Instagram widget, or even galleries, we envision properties sharing the stories and deep narratives of the people behind their experiences and businesses.

What you can do this month

1. Write down what makes you different. Three or four sentences in your own words: who you're perfect for, what guests always mention, what you love about your area. Use it on your homepage.
2. Share your local knowledge. Add your favourite walks, restaurants and hidden spots to your map page or Blog. This is insider knowledge an AI tool can't invent (it can merely curate and gauge relevance), and it's exactly what it looks for when recommending a place.
3. Check your slop. I'm going to be candid. The increase of blatantly AI-generated content we've seen surfacing over the past year has been eye-opening. And a bit disappointing. The properties who realise that creating AI content at scale is not a "hack", but rather that the bar has simply been raised to create thoughtful, quality stories and messages, will win.

If you're ever tempted to create AI-generated photos for your website: don't.

The big picture: be the right choice for someone

Celia from VisitBritain summed up the two days best. For years, tourism has chased visibility: more reach, more traffic, more eyeballs. The shift now is towards relevance, being "the right choice for someone".

That's good news for independent properties. You don't need to be seen by everyone. You need to be clear, trusted and easy to understand for the guests who suit you best.

Easier said than done at times? Perhaps. But we're behind you.

Pete