SiteMinder expands hotel platform for AI booking channels

SiteMinder has expanded its hotel distribution platform to support AI-driven booking channels, adding new links between hotel inventory and AI-based travel search and booking services.

The expansion covers two parts of the platform, Demand Plus and Channels Plus, and includes a partnership with DirectBooker as its first AI demand partner. SiteMinder connects 53,000 hotels across 150 countries and processes more than 300 million room nights each year.

Under the first change, Demand Plus will extend beyond metasearch services such as Google, Trivago and TripAdvisor into AI-driven conversational environments including ChatGPT and Claude. Travellers will be able to discover hotels through recommendations, view live rates and complete a booking on the hotel's own website.

The second change affects Channels Plus, SiteMinder's multi-channel distribution product. Through it, AI-enabled online travel agencies and intermediaries will be able to access hotel inventory for search, comparison and booking within their own platforms, with reservations then passed through SiteMinder to the hotel.

The additions reflect a broader shift in travel planning as AI tools begin to play a larger role in how consumers search for accommodation. Findings from SiteMinder's Changing Traveller Report 2026 show that eight in ten travellers now want AI assistance during their booking journey.

New routes

DirectBooker is the first partner announced under the new framework. It connects live hotel rates to major and emerging AI platforms, giving SiteMinder a way to surface room inventory across a wider range of services where travellers are asking questions and comparing options.

The two routes are intended to support both direct bookings on hotel websites and bookings completed inside partner platforms. In practice, this gives hotels access to AI-led demand through both direct and indirect sales channels, rather than relying only on traditional search and metasearch tools.

Both product changes are built on Model Context Protocol, or MCP, a technical standard designed to give AI systems access to live hotel data. The aim is to reduce reliance on static or outdated information and allow room rates and availability to be shown in real time.

That matters because hotel pricing and availability can change quickly, especially across large distribution networks. Real-time access to inventory is critical if AI services are to move beyond general recommendations to actual bookings.

Industry shift

Hotel groups are watching how consumer behaviour changes as generative AI tools become part of online search. For accommodation providers, the key commercial question is whether travellers will begin making decisions inside AI interfaces rather than moving through the usual chain of search engine, comparison site and hotel page.

"Navigating the shifts in how travellers find and book hotels is what SiteMinder was built to do. As AI-driven hotel discovery accelerates, we are expanding Demand Plus and Channels Plus to give properties on our platform new ways to be found and convert demand across these emerging pathways. For hoteliers, that means being present and bookable at every new point of discovery, and that advantage will only grow," said Sankar Narayan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of SiteMinder.

For SiteMinder, the changes also extend the role it plays between hotels and distribution partners. It already sits at the centre of a large network of accommodation providers and sales channels, and the addition of AI-focused partners gives it another route for bookings as travel discovery evolves.

DirectBooker described the partnership as a way to keep hotels visible as AI becomes a new consumer entry point. "AI is creating a new front door for hotel discovery, and every hotel deserves to be found through it. SiteMinder has pioneered hotel distribution at every major turn, and this partnership extends that leadership into the age of AI-driven travel. SiteMinder's partnership supports DirectBooker's goal of ensuring hotels are the primary beneficiaries of this shift: capturing a new generation of demand while keeping the guest relationship exactly where it belongs," said Vakil.

The hotel sector has often had to adjust to new gatekeepers in distribution, from search engines to online travel agencies and metasearch platforms. AI assistants could become another layer in that system, particularly if travellers start asking a chatbot to shortlist options, compare prices or complete a reservation.

Norman Arundel, Director of Hotels and Resorts at EVT, said the trend was already visible in guest behaviour. "We are watching guest search behaviour evolve in real time, and the direction is unmistakable: AI is becoming part of how travellers find and choose where to stay. The imperative for hotels is to be discoverable in that environment, surfacing the right information at the right moment. At EVT, we see this as one of the most significant opportunities in hospitality right now, and it's encouraging to see technology partners actively enabling hotels to not only be found, but booked, wherever guests are searching," he said.

SiteMinder's platform handles more than 135 million reservations worth over AUD $85 billion for hotel customers each year, giving it a large installed base from which to test whether AI-based discovery can turn into confirmed bookings.