Invisible By Default: Why AI Is Reshaping Hospitality Brand Visibility

Hospitality brands have long competed for search rankings and social media attention. But Tilly Gray, Director of PR and AI at Mason Rose, a luxury hospitality PR and communications agency, says generative AI is reshaping how travellers discover and trust brands. After advising more than 160 hotel leaders on AI discoverability, she warns that businesses must rethink visibility, reputation and digital strategy or risk being left out of the customer journey entirely. Entrepreneur UK finds out more… 

Have hospitality leaders truly grasped the scale of the AI disruption heading their way?
No, not yet, given the fast-changing nature of AI, many are feeling overwhelmed by it (understandably!) and what to prioritise to stay ahead. However the response to my consultancy has been incredible, which reflects the keenness from leaders to learn and understand how best to approach it. This is the fourth industrial revolution, and where TV, the internet and radio took many years to reach mass adoption, AI has reached mass adoption in two months, so it is a technological advancement like we have never seen before. Most hospitality leaders are thinking about AI as a tool to use internally, rather than fully understanding how critical it is for their entire business and brand positioning beyond their website. The Generative search shift we are seeing, means that there are now zero-click searches, and that when AI mentions a hospitality brand in its summary, it acts like a recommendation or advertisement where the consumer knows your brand, and trusts your information, often without even a visit to your website. This is a fundamental shift in how discovery works, and it’s happening faster than most businesses are adapting their strategy.

You’ve warned that hotels can become “invisible by default.” What’s the biggest mistake brands are making right now?
Many hospitality brands will become invisible by default due to a few reasons 1) An overreliance on SEO, strong SEO and ranking on Google no longer guarantees visibility , 2) a weak third party presence, if AI lacks trusted sources to validate the brand, it will be deemed invisible 3) Generic Positioning, if travel brands are deemed similar to others, AI can’t differentiate and won’t include it and 4) inconsistent data, if there is mismatched information out there about a brand, AI models will ignore it.

After 15 years in PR, what convinced you that AI expertise would become essential to staying competitive?
Over the last five years, I noticed that what once worked as a PR, no longer delivered the same results, and that we needed to pivot our client and business strategies to survive. I realised that while AI is rapidly transforming discovery, search, and editorial influence, PR remains a highly nuanced, relationship-led industry with very little AI specialism built specifically for it. This gap created an urgent need for AI expertise that understands the realities of PR not generic tech solutions, but practical, industry-specific guidance from a PR expert who deeply understands the luxury travel sector, and this is why I trained to become a qualified AI professional with a PR expertise to offer hoteliers, travel brands and PRs guidance on how to positively implement and embrace AI to maximise the commercial opportunity rather than be disrupted by it or left behind.

For years, hospitality brands focused on SEO and social media. Has AI changed the rules of visibility?
There are new rules of visibility, whilst SEO is still important, the priority is no longer to rank highly on Google, but instead to be the preferred brand that is trusted enough by the AI models to be recommended or cited, so trust is now the primary ranking signal. AI rewards clarity and factual consistency across multiple sources, and content that is easy to extract and summarise. A good way to help with this mindset shift we need to make, is to see AI platforms as a new persona that hospitality brands need to convince.

You’ve advised more than 160 hotel leaders on AI discoverability. What separates the businesses embracing this shift from those resisting it?
The response has been incredibly positive, and perhaps that is due to being fortunate enough to work with some of the most forward-thinking hoteliers from around the world, who are always looking for the next innovation. More specifically, those businesses embracing it are those that are at the core, are curious, and have an eagerness to learn and experiment with AI and the opportunity that it brings. Hopefully, my one-to-one AI consultancy and seminars provide these leaders with trusted expert guidance on how to navigate this unchartered landscape. Subsequently, this has reassured them that this is in one of the most exciting shifts our industry has seen in decades and is a chance for us to take control back and redefine how influence is built, how brands are discovered and how their stories are told.

Hospitality is built on human connection. As AI becomes embedded in the industry, where should people always remain at the centre of the experience?
Hospitality has always been about making people feel seen, understood, valued and cared for and whilst AI is transforming the industry in incredible ways, enabling hyper personalisation and productivity at scale, to streamlining operations, the most important parts of the travel experience are without doubt, inherently human. My view is that AI should take over the friction points, the admin, the logistics, the discovery layer, so that humans have more time to do what humans do best, add warmth, value and connection to a travel experience, that AI simply can’t.