BrightEdge Data Shows AI Is Making Its Holiday Travel List (And Checking it Twice). Marriott, American Airlines, Royal Caribbean and Expedia Are on It.

American Airlines, Royal Caribbean and Expedia lead their categories across ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, with competition for the top hotel spot

SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BrightEdge, the global leader in enterprise SEO and AI search optimization, today released new research identifying the travel brands standing out in AI-powered holiday planning. American Airlines, Royal Caribbean and Expedia lead their respective categories across both ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, while Marriott and Hilton compete for the top spot among hotels.

The research examines holiday travel queries and answers across Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT, revealing how major brands compare across booking platforms, hotels, airlines and cruises.

“This is the first holiday travel season where AI is tangibly impacting how travelers discover and choose brands,” said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge. “For marketers, visibility is the new competitive battleground. Understanding which brands AI recommends, what drives those recommendations and where competitors are gaining ground will be critical to capturing demand.”

Hotels: Marriott and Hilton are neck and neck for category leader. In ChatGPT, Marriott takes the lead at 29.4%, followed by Hilton at 27.3%. Hilton leads Google AI Overviews at 28.3%, followed by Marriott at 25.3%.

Cruises: Royal Caribbean leads across both platforms, appearing in 24.8% of Google AI Overviews answers. Its lead is even stronger in ChatGPT, where Royal Caribbean appears in 28.8% of answers, compared with Carnival at 22.1% and Viking at 9.7%.

Airlines: American Airlines takes the lead, appearing in 26.6% of Google AI Overviews answers and 25.3% of ChatGPT answers. United follows at 20.5% and 16.2%, respectively, while Delta appears in 13.4% of Google AI Overviews answers and 15.4% of ChatGPT answers.

Booking platforms: Expedia leads holiday travel, appearing in 31.3% of Google AI Overviews answers, more than twice Kayak's 14.4%, followed by Booking.com at 13.6%. In ChatGPT, Expedia leads at 26.6%, followed by Kayak at 19.4% and Booking.com at 12.9%.

What Sets the Winners Apart

Expedia's lead demonstrates the advantage of connecting holiday-specific content directly to booking opportunities. Among major booking platforms, Expedia stands out for its dedicated Thanksgiving and Christmas deals pages that combine travel packages, offers and helpful information in one place, making it better positioned to answer holiday travel questions and capture visibility in AI-powered search.

What This Means for Travel Marketers

For travel marketers, AI visibility creates a new competitive benchmark: how often their brands appear alongside direct rivals, and how those rankings differ across AI platforms. Hotels, airlines, cruise lines and booking platforms should track their presence across the specific occasions and needs driving holiday planning, from family destinations and Christmas cruises to affordable flights and New Year’s hotel stays.

Those findings can guide content priorities. Brands should make relevant amenities, seasonal experiences, routes and booking options easy to find and understand. Expedia's lead underscores the importance of connecting seasonal content, relevant offers and booking options to give AI platforms a more complete picture of what a brand offers. They should also identify the travel publications, guides and tourism websites informing AI answers, giving communications teams a clearer view of where coverage could support discovery.

As AI-powered discovery expands, understanding which brands lead across different AI platforms will become increasingly important for marketers across industries. To learn how BrightEdge helps brands measure and improve their visibility across traditional and AI-powered search, request a demo at BrightEdge.

About BrightEdge
BrightEdge is the global leader in Enterprise SEO and AI-powered content performance. For more than 18 years, BrightEdge has helped thousands of brands and digital marketers, including 57% of the Fortune 500, transform online opportunities into measurable business results. Its industry-first platform integrates the most comprehensive dataset in search, combining insights from traditional SEO, digital media, social, and content with cutting-edge generative AI capabilities, including its deep learning engine DataMind and AI Catalyst platform. Trusted by enterprises, mid-market companies, and leading digital agencies, BrightEdge continues to set the standard for innovation in search and AI, enabling brands to win by becoming an integral part of the digital experience.

Contact: press@brightedge.com