Every season, owners hear something new: that guests no longer search the way they used to, that AI is going to replace Google, that the platforms are going to take everything. Before you change anything, it is worth looking at what institutions and the platforms themselves have actually published. This article looks only at primary sources with dates, and says clearly what they show and what they do not.
What the data on the platforms shows
On 8 January 2026, Eurostat published data on short-term accommodation booked through Airbnb, Booking and Expedia. For the third quarter of 2025, nights in the EU came to 398.1 million, 8.7 per cent more than in the same quarter of 2024. This is an overall figure for the EU, not for a particular property or country.
There are three important caveats. First, the data covers only these platforms, not all the ways of booking. Second, the page says nothing about Bulgaria. Third, it does not answer the question of how many of the guests saw the property on a platform but booked by phone or through the website. So we cannot claim that “everyone books online through platforms”. All we can say is that the platforms remain a large channel, which grew in that quarter.
For the owner the conclusion is simple: being on a platform is part of visibility, but not the whole of it. How many of your guests come from there is a fact that only you know.
What Booking.com and Google say about AI travel planning
On 15 October 2025, Booking.com published its annual study of predictions for 2026. It is based on an online survey carried out in July and August 2025 among 29,733 people in 33 countries and territories. The platform reports that 65 per cent of respondents say they would use AI to put together scenic routes off the beaten track. This was reported by the platform itself and concerns willingness, not measured behaviour. It does not say how Bulgarian guests choose a guest house.
Google describes two changes. On 17 November 2025, it introduced travel planning in AI Mode: you describe the stay you want and get a plan with a comparison of hotels by price and amenities, with data from Maps such as photos and ratings. At that time the feature was available on desktop in the US to users included in a Labs experiment. On 27 August 2026, Google announced that in AI Mode you can compare and book a hotel through partners such as Booking.com, Expedia and hotel chains. The launch is in the US, in English.
These are real trends, but they are not a description of search in Bulgaria today. None of the sources cited claims that small properties will be recommended or left out by AI answers, so no such promise should be made here either.
What these trends have in common
Google’s descriptions show comparison by price, amenities, photos and ratings, while Eurostat and Booking.com show the large role of the platforms. This is an interpretation, not a measured fact: the guest increasingly compares in someone else’s environment, such as a platform, a map or a chat. The property does not control that environment, but it controls the data the environment feeds on.
What this means for a small property:
- Guests will see you more often through an intermediary than through your website.
- Differences between the platform, Maps, Facebook and your website create distrust and unnecessary questions.
- Missing information (parking, pets, check-in time) turns into a phone call or a lost decision.
Five checks for one afternoon
- Search for the property’s name on Google from a phone. Write down what appears on the first page and whether the phone number, address and opening hours are correct.
- On one sheet, compare prices, cancellation rules, check-in and check-out times, breakfast and amenities on the platform, on Maps, on Facebook and on the website. Highlight the differences and put them right.
- Go through the photos: is there at least one up-to-date photo of each room, of the entrance and of the view? Old photos are worse than fewer photos.
- Prepare 10–15 frequently asked questions with short, accurate answers and publish them on the website. That way both a person and an automated assistant will find the same thing.
- Ask every new guest how they found the property and write down the answer in a notebook. After two or three months you will have statistics of your own, worth more than any study.
If you want more on the content of the website, read the guide to a small hotel’s website and the definition of a direct reservation, listed below.
Where ISKA helps, without promising a result
ISKA Website is a website for a hotel or guest house, offered by individual quote. On it you show the rooms with photos, optionally a “from” price, services, a gallery, offers and an enquiry form. An enquiry is not a reservation and does not hold a room. You maintain the website through ISKA, with a draft, a preview and the option to go back to a previous version. A description arranged in one place like this is easy to update when something changes. This does not guarantee more enquiries, but it gives you your own place for accurate information.
What not to do
Do not change your whole strategy because of a single report. Do not believe headlines that promise that some change will bring you guests. Do not ignore the platforms because of this article: they are a large channel. Get the basics in order, measure and adjust in small steps.