BrightEdge: Hilton leads AI Overviews, Marriott leads ChatGPT on holiday travel
BrightEdge’s AI Hyper Cube measured brand visibility across Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT for holiday-travel questions spanning inspiration, comparison, booking-intent and budget queries, collected August-September 2026. Hilton leads hotel brands on Google AI Overviews at 28.3% visibility, while Marriott leads instead on ChatGPT, at 29.4%. Among booking platforms, Expedia far outpaces Kayak on AI Overviews, 31.3% to 14.4%, and booking-focused sites appear in 78% of budget-related AI Overviews answers. American Airlines and Royal Caribbean also placed as category leaders, per BrightEdge.
Why it matters: Hotel and booking brands are splitting leadership by AI engine rather than converging on one winner, so a travel brand optimizing for Google AI Overviews alone may be invisible on ChatGPT, and vice versa.
The record: BrightEdgeChatGPTGoogle AI Overviews
Glossary: AI Overviews
Via BrightEdge ↗
Posted to the wire October 21, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.