Sydney, Australia – Online travel agencies (OTAs) have overtaken search engines as travelers’ primary starting point for finding hotels, according to SiteMinder Traveler Change Report 2026released today. Twenty-six percent of travelers surveyed will now start their hotel research via an OTA, up from 18% last year, while travelers starting with a search engine dropped to 21% from 36%.

Word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family have doubled from 7% to 14%, familiar hotel brands have grown from 3% to 7%, while the use of AI as a starting point for discovery has reached 4%, up from 1% last year — rising even higher among Gen Z and Millennials.

“The hotel discovery landscape is more dynamic than ever,” said Trent Innes, Chief Growth Officer at SiteMinder. “Not only are research starting points increasingly diverse, but travelers now move between channels more fluidly, often using multiple channels simultaneously to build confidence in their choices. This non-linear journey has become the natural rhythm of modern travel planning.”

While AI is still a new channel for initial hotel discovery, the technology is designed to quickly transform the broader booking journey. Eighty percent of travelers now want AI-powered capabilities, with price monitoring and alerts (44%) at the top of their wish list, according to SiteMinder.

The report, which is the world’s largest study of accommodation consumers, surveyed 12,000 travelers in 14 countries including Australia, China, France, India, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It also reveals that:

• The world’s ‘dream destinations’ remained stable: Japan (17%), the United States (10%) and France (10%) retained their top positions in 2026, while South Korea jumped to fourth (9%), driven by the growing influence of K-culture.
• The OTA-to-direct pathway is gaining strength: 18% of travelers who start their search through an OTA will ultimately book directly with their hotel, a pattern that increased by 3.3 percentage points, year over year.
• Event-driven travel is on the rise: 63% are more likely to travel for special events next year, led by Gen Z (81%) and Millennials (74%) who travel for concerts and festivals.
• Quality is prioritized in location: 58% plan to choose superior or luxury rooms (+4pp year on year), indicating a shift towards more meaningful and refined experiences.
• Dynamic pricing is gaining acceptance: 65% of travelers now support demand-based pricing, while 42% would pay more for accommodation in popular destinations if it helped reduce overtourism.

This shift in behavior is occurring alongside a new appreciation for travel, according to SiteMinder. Nearly half (49%) of respondents reported a stronger desire to travel in the next 12 months, and only 12% indicated a decline in interest.

Separately, these reports uniquely highlight how guests from different countries will travel pre-arrival and experience on-site in the coming year. For example, the study revealed that Chinese tourists would book deluxe rooms and prefer well-known hotel chains over other groups, and that Spanish tourists would prioritize customer service above all markets. Indonesians are most likely to book via OTAs and American guests will again lead the way in direct hotel and domestic travel bookings, and will often return loyally once they find clear value.

“This new research reinforces an important truth,” added Innes, “there is no single formula for meeting demand in today’s travel landscape. Travelers in different countries are shaping their travels in increasingly different ways — from how they find hotels online to the experiences they prioritize when they get there — and it’s the hotels that are best positioned to anticipate and respond to these big differences that will be most effective in finding and maximizing their ideal guests in the year ahead.”

SiteMinder Traveler Change Report 2026 available here.

Media inquiries
Zoe
+61 2 9056 7415
[email protected]

investor information
Paul Wong
+61 411 889 876
[email protected]

About SiteMinder
SiteMinder Limited (ASX:SDR) is the name behind SiteMinder, the world’s leading hotel guest acquisition and revenue platform, and Little Hotelier, a complete property management system built to simplify operations and increase bookings for small accommodation providers. This global company is headquartered in Sydney with offices in Bangkok, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, Dallas, Galway, London, Manila, Mexico City and Pune. Through its technology and the largest partner ecosystem in the global hospitality industry, SiteMinder generates more than 130 million reservations with revenue of more than US$55 billion for its hotel customers annually.