Part 2: Apps + ACP Make First-Party the Default

[Editor’s note: Part 1 was drafted just after ACP landed. A week later, ChatGPT announced Apps. Taken together, these two releases confirm our thesis: AI assistants will plan and buy for guests—and when they do, they’ll prefer to book from the hotel. This post is the “what now” vision for hotels.]

If Part 1 was about advantage, Part 2 is about acceleration. If you’re wondering why we’re unconcerned that two of the first seven ChatGPT apps are from Booking and Expedia, start with Part 1.

Apps in ChatGPT lets hotels bring their brand experience inside the place guests are already planning. ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol), which we're told will be folded into these Apps, makes that planning bookable—without inserting a new middleman. One handles discovery and interaction; the other handles payment and fulfillment. Together, they form a first-party rail.

What does that look like in practice?

• A guest starts a planning chat. Your hotel appears not as a blue link, but as a living storefront—real rooms, real rates, clear reasons to book direct.
• The assistant consults perks, policies, and press from you, not from a derivative listing.
• When the guest is ready, checkout is seamless and direct, preserving your relationship with the traveler.

At its best, this enables a direct relationship with your hotel. Here’s how it should feel:

Your storefront inside AI

It should convey who you are (positioning), engage a guest in a way that lets them picture staying there (fast, high-quality media), and confirm what’s bookable now (reliable availability). The outcome isn’t a generic card in a scroll; it’s a recognizable presence. Your AI storefront should allow the guest to engage with your content with minimal clicks and enable the AI to summarize and show what's relevant to the guest. The AI assistant will explain your property accurately, and choose it based on fit with the rest of the trip being planned.

A living catalog, not a static page

Guests ask specific, situational questions in chat. A useful catalog organizes rooms, offers, packages, events, and experiences so assistants can retrieve the right detail at the right moment. When someone asks for “a suite that works for a toddler’s bedtime” or “a place that feels celebratory but calm,” clear descriptions, inclusions, and constraints allow precise, relevant answers.

Checkout that preserves the relationship

With ACP, the handoff from planning to purchase keeps the hotel directly in relationship with the guest. No intermediary. That means policies, credits, loyalty earning, and service stay aligned with the property. From the guest’s perspective, the conversation ends in a confirmation—without extra steps or ambiguity about who they’re booking with.

How this scales for different hotel types

• Multi-property brands: A single presence expresses brand standards consistently while reflecting property-level differences (room types, amenities, seasonal programming). Guest relationships across the portfolio sit at the forefront.
• Independent hotels: The field levels. Clear storytelling, distinctive offerings, and current details matter more than paid placement or screen real estate. The aim is to make “why this property fits this trip” immediately obvious.

Kismet is the first-party AI storefront, catalog, and checkout for hotels. We help hotels to set up and manage their first-party presence for AI search and booking. Always your brand, never ours.

If you’re ready to sell through AI, we’re ready to help.