AI tools have quickly become part of everyday life, helping people plan holidays, compare products and find answers in seconds. As they become part of more people’s routines, they are also starting to shape how guests choose where to eat and drink. Our latest GO Technology report, AI and the Algorithm, carried out with NIQ, surveyed 5,000 nationally representative British consumers to understand who is using AI to find venues, what they are asking it and how far they trust the answers.
Choosing where to eat or drink has often involved a little research, whether that means asking a friend, scanning reviews or checking a menu online. Our research shows that AI is evolving to be a significant part of that process research. Nearly one in five British consumers (19%) use AI tools such as ChatGPT or search engine summaries when planning a visit to a pub, bar or restaurant, and half (50%) say they would consider doing so in future.
The report, AI and the Algorithm, points to a habit that is moving steadily into the mainstream, and to some useful lessons for operators about how guests will find them in the years ahead.
AI is adding to discovery, not replacing it
Recommendations from friends and family still influence nearly half of consumers (47%), while reviews (32%) and venue websites (25%) continue to play an important role. AI is now used as widely as social media (19%) for venue research, and with half of consumers open to trying it, its share of the discovery journey looks set to grow.
Where AI does stand apart is in how heavily its users lean on it once they start. Of the guests who use AI to plan a visit, 70% make it their sole or primary source: half begin their research there before checking elsewhere, and one in five (20%) let it plan the entire visit.
That reliance rests on a good level of trust, as around three quarters of consumers using AI to plan visits to hospitality(76%) say they entirely or mostly trust AI engines, placing them ahead of reviews (68%) and venue websites (64%) and behind only the recommendations of friends and family (88%). For a technology that has only recently become part of everyday life, that is a notable level of confidence, and it helps explain why so many users are comfortable letting it shape their plans.
AI users are a valuable audience
Adoption varies considerably by age, with around a third of Gen Z (34%) using AI to plan a visit, compared with 13% of Gen X and 5% of Boomers. It also rises with frequency: 42% of guests who eat out at least three times a week use AI, more than four times the rate among those who go out once or twice a month (10%).
A similar pattern appears with spend and location. Guests who spend £60 or more a head are more likely than average to use AI to find a venue (23%), and in London the figure rises to 39%, more than double the rate across the rest of the country (16%). Taken together, the research suggests that guests turning to AI tend to be younger, visit more often and spend more, which makes them exactly the guests that estates and portfolios across the country are working hardest to attract.
What are guests asking AI?
For the most part, guests use AI to answer practical questions. Reviews top the list (45%), followed by prices (43%), menus (38%) and opening times (35%), with deals (28%), booking processes (28%), accessibility (22%), child-friendly facilities (20%), allergens (16%) and pet policies (16%) also featuring.
Much of this information already exists on venue websites, booking pages and review platforms. What AI offers guests is a quicker way of bringing it together in one place, so the quality of the answer they receive depends on how accurate and consistent that information is wherever it appears online.
Discovery is becoming a data question
Search engine optimisation has long shaped how venues are found online, and generative engine optimisation, or GEO, is now emerging alongside it. Rather than simply ranking web pages, AI tools gather information from many sources, compare it and present guests with a shortlist, allowing them to consider more information when making a decision on where to go than they may have done previously.
For multi-site operators, this puts consistency across every channel and every site firmly in focus. Opening hours that match across the website, booking page and Google listing, menus and allergen details that are kept up to date, and reviews that reflect the experience guests enjoy today all help AI tools present an accurate picture of a venue. Where information is missing or contradictory, a venue may not make the shortlist at all, and the operator is unlikely ever to know that a visit was missed.
Looking further ahead
For now, AI is mainly used before a visit rather than during one. Only 10% of consumers use it in a venue, behind venue websites (22%), digital menus (19%) and venue apps (18%). Even so, 39% of AI users already turn to it for recommendations on what to eat, and 36% to keep up with food and drink trends, which suggests its role during a visit could grow if the tools are able to offer more and more personalised recommendations.
Beyond discovery, AI could also play a bigger part in how guests plan and enjoy their visits. Let’s explore three potential use cases.
- Planning the whole occasion, not just choosing the venue
One in five AI users (20%) already let it plan their entire visit, and many ask it questions that go well beyond where to go, from how to book (28%) and how to get there (25%) to what events are on (23%), how busy a venue is likely to be (19%) and what else is nearby (18%). As the tools become more capable, we expect more guests to plan an entire occasion in a single conversation, from choosing a venue and checking availability to arranging travel and finding somewhere for a drink afterwards. Venues that keep this information complete and up to date are more likely to be part of those plans.
- Help choosing what to order
With so many AI users already asking it what to eat, that habit is likely to carry through into the visit itself, with more guests asking AI for a recommendation from the menu in front of them, checking which dishes suit their dietary needs or looking for a drink they have seen trending. Clear, accurate menu and allergen information will help make sure those recommendations reflect what a venue serves.
- Answers to the questions that decide a visit
Beyond the basics, guests are using AI to answer the specific questions that often decide whether a venue is right for them, such as whether it is accessible (22%), child-friendly (20%) or pet-friendly (16%), how busy it is likely to be (19%) and what allergen information is available (16%).With consumer usage set to increase in future, AI answers could be disqualifying venues from consideration before a guest even visits their website. Because AI draws on many sources at once, from listings sites to older reviews and social posts, the answer a guest receives may not always match what a venue offers today, which makes keeping that information accurate wherever it appears more important than ever.
What doesn’t change
Hospitality is a people business, and while AI may increasingly influence how guests find a venue, it is the welcome, the food and the service that bring them back. What AI does change is the value of good data. Operators who keep their information accurate, consistent and connected across every site will be well placed to reach the guests who visit most often and spend the most.
The full report explores these findings in more depth, including how trust in AI differs between generations, the other questions guests most often put to AI tools, and why NIQ describes AI as “a critical battleground for hospitality in the months and years to come”. Download AI and the Algorithm to read the full findings.