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US: New research from Crafted Stays has revealed a major visibility gap for vacation rental operators in AI search results, with brands performing strongly on branded searches but struggling to appear during broader trip-planning queries.
The study analysed 160 AI-generated responses across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude using 40 discovery prompts tied to five vacation rental brands.
Researchers found operators were cited 97 per cent of the time when travellers searched directly for a brand name, such as “[brand] reviews” or “what is [brand]?”, but citation rates dropped to between 10 and 15 per cent for unbranded trip-planning searches.
Prompts such as “where should we stay in the Smokies?” and “top vacation rental websites for families” were instead dominated by Airbnb and Vrbo.
Gil Chan, co-founder of Crafted Stays, said the findings show where the biggest challenge now sits for direct booking strategies.
“For the first time, we have data showing exactly how AI search engines handle vacation rental brands,” Chan said.
“The finding that surprised us most: operators get cited 97 per cent of the time when a traveller searches their brand name, but that rate collapses to 10–15 per cent on unbranded trip-planning queries, the exact moment a traveller is deciding where to go.
“That’s what we’re calling the discovery funnel cliff, and it’s the challenge direct-booking strategies haven’t solved yet.”
The report also found significant differences between AI engines.
Claude delivered the highest operator citation rate at 55 per cent, followed by Perplexity at 50 per cent and ChatGPT at 45 per cent. Gemini recorded the lowest rate at 32.5 per cent.
According to the report, the findings suggest operators need to optimise for multiple AI platforms rather than focusing on a single engine.
Regional operators consistently outperformed national marketplaces in destination-based searches.
Sand ‘N Sea Properties achieved a 62.5 per cent citation rate across prompts, while RedAwning recorded 28.1 per cent.
The study found destination-specific operators were more likely to surface in AI-generated recommendations, while marketplaces were frequently displaced by Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com.
CraftedStays said operators should focus AI optimisation efforts on top-of-funnel discovery content, including destination guides, comparison pages and trip-planning resources.
The report also recommended structured data such as FAQPage, Organization and Article schema markup to improve visibility in AI-generated answers.
The full report and methodology can be viewed here.
Highlights:
- New CraftedStays research analysed how vacation rental brands perform across AI search engines including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude
- The study reviewed 160 AI-generated responses using 40 discovery prompts tied to five vacation rental brands
- Operators were cited 97 per cent of the time on branded searches, but visibility dropped to 10 to 15 per cent on unbranded trip-planning queries
- CraftedStays described the sharp drop in visibility as the “discovery funnel cliff” Airbnb and Vrbo dominated AI-generated responses for broader travel planning and destination discovery searches
- Claude delivered the highest operator citation rate at 55 per cent, while Gemini recorded the lowest at 32.5 per cent Regional vacation rental operators outperformed national marketplaces in AI trip-planning searches
- Sand ‘N Sea Properties achieved a 62.5 per cent citation rate, compared with 28.1 per cent for RedAwning
- The report found destination-specific brands were more likely to appear in AI-generated recommendations than national OTAs and marketplaces
- CraftedStays said vacation rental operators should focus on AI SEO, structured data, destination guides and top-of-funnel content to improve AI search visibility
