Lighthouse launches direct-booking hotel app on ChatGPT

Hotels get direct bookings in ChatGPT

Lighthouse has launched The Hotels Network, a bookings app integrated into ChatGPT and available now in the App Directory. 

The tool is open to hotels of every size on a flat-fee, commission-free model and is powered by the company’s Connect AI engine, which debuted in June 2025.

The Hotels Network is positioned as one of the first apps to make hotels directly bookable inside ChatGPT, giving properties a direct presence at the heart of AI-driven conversations. 

The app is available worldwide to all properties indexed by Connect AI, spanning chains, groups and independents.

The application creates a real-time data bridge between subscribed hotels’ systems and ChatGPT via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Responses are built on hotel-verified content (descriptions and imagery) and live rates. If a selected property is indexed by Connect AI, users are routed in one click to the hotel’s booking link; otherwise, the app offers a booking link via an OTA such as Booking.com. Crucially, hoteliers retain control over their brand narrative — from product descriptions and signature features to services and visuals — beyond price and availability alone.

Lighthouse says the move responds to a clear preference among travellers to book direct when given the option, citing a Simon-Kucher survey in which 62% expressed that intent. Following the early Booking.com and Expedia integrations at the launch of ChatGPT Apps, hotels lacked a comparable way to address prospective guests directly.

“AI is the biggest shift in how travelers plan their trips and discover hotels since Google, and the OTAs have already moved,” said Juanjo Rodriguez, Head of Direct Booking at Lighthouse.

“The Hotels Network app is the industry's answer. Properties can now control how they're discovered, tell their own story and surface their own rates, all inside the conversations where trip planning starts. 

"This isn't an incremental improvement. It's a new distribution channel. And the hotels going live today are shaping how the next generation of travelers discovers and books hotels.”

For travellers, the promise is less generic recommendations: pages built from hotel-verified sources, live direct rates that may undercut some OTA listings, and a shortened path to the official site.

For hoteliers, the draw is control over brand presentation, the ability to surface direct rates and exclusive perks (upgrades, loyalty benefits, best-rate guarantees), and a broader distribution mix. In time, this kind of integration could reduce dependence on intermediaries and shift hotel search towards conversational interfaces.

The app is already live in the ChatGPT App Directory. It is open to all categories of property and operates on a fixed-subscription, zero-commission basis. 

Earlier, Lighthouse acquired The Hotels Network to bolster hotels’ direct bookings, a move that laid the groundwork for this launch.