TL;DR: 2025 research showed that when AI-generated summaries appear in Google search results, click-through rates to websites drop by nearly 50%. That means fewer travelers are landing on your hotel’s website, even if you rank high. If you haven’t updated your SEO strategy to optimize for AI search, you are losing direct bookings to Google itself without realizing it. Google Just Changed the Game A July 2025 study from Pew Research confirmed what marketers have been noticing for months: Google’s AI Overviews are making it harder for users to find and click on actual websites. These AI summaries are designed in a way they prevent users from going to the source website. Automated answer boxes are shown at the top of search results and are becoming the final destination for travel-related queries. According to Pew’s findings: When there is an AI Overview click-through rates drop by almost 50% Only 8%