SiteMinder has unveiled two extensions to its platform, widening hotel distribution into AI-driven conversational environments. The platform, which connects 53,000 hotels across 150 countries, is opening up new booking journeys. Demand Plus, the demand generation solution already live on Google, Trivago and TripAdvisor, will now surface hotels inside AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude, where travellers can receive curated suggestions, view live rates and complete their booking on the hotel’s own booking page.
Meanwhile, Channels Plus will open access to SiteMinder’s inventory for AI-enabled online travel agencies and intermediaries. In this pathway, search, comparison and booking all take place within the partner’s platform, with the reservation then flowing through SiteMinder to the property.
SiteMinder aims to capture demand where AI searches
The initiative targets independent properties, hotel groups and distributors that want to integrate AI into their interfaces. Both pathways are powered by the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a standard that provides AI platforms with real-time access to live hotel data rather than static content. SiteMinder is building the hotel commerce infrastructure for demand partners to surface inventory across a growing network of interfaces. Demand Plus retains a direct booking flow on the hotel’s site, while Channels Plus supports a complete journey within the partner’s interface. DirectBooker is named as the inaugural partner for this new demand layer, with the number of connected players set to grow.
The shift comes amid rapid changes in consumer behaviour. In its Changing Traveller Report 2026, SiteMinder says eight in ten travellers now want AI assistance during their booking journey. For hoteliers, the task is not only to be visible on traditional metasearch, but to show up where inspiration, comparison and purchase are moving — and to convert this new demand without letting conversational platforms or intermediaries capture the guest relationship alone.
Norman Arundel, Director of Hotels and Resorts, EVT, welcomed the move: “We are watching guest search behavior evolve in real time, and the direction is unmistakable: AI is becoming part of how travelers 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.”
SiteMinder says it connects 53,000 hotels in 150 countries, covering 2.5 million rooms and processing more than 300 million room nights and over 135 million reservations each year, generating more than A$85 billion in revenue for its customers.
_w=800_h=399_pjpg.jpg?v=20230522122229)
