Hospitality rewired: from googling to guided discovery

Hospitality rewired is an article series exploring the role of artificial intelligence in hospitality operations, offering a critical lens on both its potential and its challenges — with a particular focus on operational efficiency. The content of the articles is based on our work and experiences in the HosByte research project, where we examine smart omnichannel solutions for the hospitality sector.

In two earlier articles of Hospitality rewired, we examined how AI can streamline email management and unpack the risks and ethical considerations that accompany its use. In this article, we turn our attention to AI-powered browsing, highlighting its potential as a strategic time-saver for hospitality professionals navigating an increasingly complex digital landscape.

Fewer clicks, more focus

Increasingly, new tools are reshaping how we interact with the web. Products like DIA from The Browser Company and Comet from Perplexity are transforming traditional search into intelligent, context-aware browsing — designed to anticipate needs, filter noise and surface relevant insights with minimal effort. Even mainstream platforms are adapting as Chrome now supports AI-powered plug-ins and extensions, while Google’s Gemini offers automatic search summaries, without prompt. Whether consciously or not, we are shifting from manually searching for information to asking AI for answers, ushering in a new mode of browsing with significant potential for professionals across the hospitality sector.

In this new mode of browsing, information is surfaced directly, reducing the need to scroll, click and compare. Personalised recommendations, instant summaries, assisted shopping, improved translation and fewer ads all contribute to a more streamlined experience. By simplifying the search process and minimising tab overload, these tools ease cognitive demand and turn traditional googling into a more natural, conversational interaction, supported by parallel functions all within a single interface.

A model for productive browsing

Furthermore, the benefits of AI-powered browsing can be strategically harnessed to enhance workflows in the hospitality industry. Here, we propose a model that, while applicable to traditional browsing, becomes a particularly effective productivity strategy when paired with AI-powered platforms.

1. Allocate time to browse consciously

Employees in the hospitality industry are often multitaskers who find themselves scrolling through the web whenever a moment allows. This almost automatic habit fragments attention and weakens the quality of both the browsing and the task at hand. Instead, it is recommended to set aside dedicated time slots for focused browsing.

AI-powered tools can significantly reduce the time needed to find answers, making this approach even more efficient. Prompting requests yields more tangible results than traditional browsing, offering synthesised information from multiple sources and enabling deeper exploration through follow-up prompts. Moreover, the time spent prompting can also be minimised, as some platforms now support shortcuts that reduce full queries to single words, customisable to reflect the most common needs of the organisation.

2. Batch similar tasks

Grouping related activities and addressing them together help to further reduce cognitive load by maintaining focus on a single topic rather than switching between several. Whether researching suppliers, reviewing feedback or exploring emerging industry trends, AI-powered browsing supports deeper concentration and improves efficiency. A recent study highlights how intelligent browsing enhances users’ perception, experience and engagement in online shopping — boosting control, concentration and cognitive enjoyment (Lopes et al. 2025).

The challenge of finding a needle in a haystack is eased through concise queries, while personalised interactions enrich the experience with features such as learning assistance, information analysis, extraction of key ideas, avoidance of irrelevant deep-dives and summarisation of large datasets. Purpose-built extensions further improve this focus. For instance, tools like Booteek and Mara AI, designed specifically for hospitality providers, assist in managing online reviews and extracting actionable insights.

3. Save relevant information, clear the rest

Maintaining a tidy digital workspace requires closing out processes properly and clearing unnecessary tabs. AI-powered browsing supports this discipline by naturally reducing the number of tabs needed, minimising the constant switching between platforms. When synchronised with knowledge management tools, the browser becomes even more powerful — streamlining the retrieval of information and ensuring that insights can be applied directly within the organisation. This cleaning routine not only improves efficiency but also reinforces a culture of intentional, organised digital practices.

Managing OTA (over-the-air) partnerships across multiple European markets, one regularly needs to compare rate parity, competitor positioning and channel performance across numerous properties simultaneously. The traditional approach means opening dozens of tabs, each extranet login, rate comparison tool and analytics dashboard in its own window. With AI-powered browsing, one could consolidate these queries into a single interface, asking targeted questions like ‘compare average rates for boutique hotels in Helsinki this weekend across major OTAs’ and receive synthesised answers without juggling multiple platforms. The time saved, roughly 30-40 minutes per daily check, allows for more strategic work on partnership negotiations and revenue optimisation.

Research on OTA-hotel relationships confirms this tension between cooperation and competition. While OTAs help introduce new customers through their platform quality, hotels must balance commission costs against direct booking incentives (Chang, Hsu & Lan 2019). Understanding this dynamic becomes easier when AI tools consolidate the data needed to make informed partnership decisions.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Smarter browsing for a lighter workload

All in all, by combining these methods with the benefits that smart browsers provide, employees can noticeably cut down the time needed to complete tasks involving online research. AI-powered browsing makes information retrieval, comparison, and extraction easier, delivering results faster and with less mental effort.

The result is higher-quality information that strengthens decision-making, while also supporting employee well-being, and ultimately leading to improved performance and higher satisfaction across the organisation.

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