kabarsula Aussies would rather book without AI: SiteMinder bandar SLOT INDONESIA

AI might be everywhere, but Australian travellers aren’t ready to let it take the wheel.

SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2027, released today, found 44 per cent of Australians would prefer to book with no AI help at all. That’s the fourth highest of the 15 markets surveyed, behind the UK (56 per cent), Germany and Canada (both 46 per cent).

By contrast, just 4–5 per cent of respondents in India, Indonesia and Thailand felt the same way.

“Our latest report shows that only 3.6 per cent of Australians say an AI assistant or agent is their preferred method of booking their next hotel stay,” SiteMinder Market vice president – Asia Pacific Bradley Haines said.

“This figure is significantly higher in certain Asian markets, such as China, where it’s 10.7 per cent, and Indonesia, where it’s 9.6 per cent. However, it isn’t significantly behind other Asian markets, such as Singapore, where it’s 5.0 per cent. Asia is incredibly dynamic and AI readiness is shifting at different speeds across the region.

“For this reason, hotels need the right tools and data to help them understand where specifically the demand for their hotel is coming from, and how best to respond to that demand.”

Haines said the future of hotel bookings, and hotel commerce is already, more broadly, agentic.

“We’re already seeing real behavioural shifts globally that indicate this. As with all new technologies, there’s a trust stage that needs to pass before we see mass adoption of AI bookings, and certainly we’re seeing that a lack of trust remains abundant among Australians,” he said.

But he adds that with the right distribution technology and content, hotels can now be more visible than they’ve ever been, thanks to AI.

“What it requires, though, is fast decision-making and that’s an area that hoteliers, themselves, recognise they currently lack the ability to do,” he said. “We recently conducted a study which found that 65 per cent of hoteliers globally expected the ability to take immediate action, in response to changes in travel demand, would unlock at least 6 per cent more revenue each year. So, they absolutely need to start investing in the right technologies now to ready themselves for an AI-driven future.”

‘Hallucination is still a thing’

Tasmania-based Luke Chapman uses AI “all day, every day” in his marketing role at a software company, but he keeps it on a short leash when it comes to travel.

The founder of Japan-focused website Sake & Sakura only trusts AI for initial research and planning. He fact-checks every suggestion and makes his bookings himself.

“AI is better than it used to be, but obviously, hallucination is still a thing, where it makes things up sometimes; I don’t want to get across the other side of the world and then discover that AI has led me down the garden path,” Chapman said.

“When I’ve previously planned trips, it might recommend places that are closed down for renovations or permanently closed and don’t exist anymore.”

No card details, no way

Payment is where Chapman draws the line, even more so for a big-ticket holiday.

“I wouldn’t trust putting my credit card details into AI and letting it make the payment. I’d want to see which website it was taking me to, whether that was the official hotel website or a booking site I know and trust, and enter the card details myself,” he said.

Convincing, but wrong

For Chapman, one of AI’s biggest flaws is how sure of itself it sounds.

“It gets frustrating when you correct it and it comes back with ‘You’re right, sorry about that’, followed by the right information. You think, well, why didn’t you give me that information the first time?”

He recalled AI recommending a Japanese museum that appeared to be open, only for the official website to show it would be closed for renovations during his trip.

“Even if it gets things right 95 per cent of the time, trusting everything at face value will eventually lead you astray. Some mistakes don’t matter, but I wouldn’t want to end up stranded somewhere because I followed the wrong advice!”

He also worries AI is flattening travel recommendations.

“If I ask a general question like ‘Where should I go in Japan?’, it often suggests the usual places I could find with a quick Google search. That also means you end up going where everyone else does,” he said.

“Some of the places I’ve enjoyed most have been less visited and came from personal recommendations or speaking to locals.”