More than six in ten travelers have already used AI to plan or book a trip, according to a recent Booking.com report. Airbnb, Booking.com, and Expedia are all rolling out natural language search powered by AI. Interest is clearly high, and AI is quickly becoming part of how travelers start searching for their next destination.
Perplexity, an AI “answer engine” built on large language models, is one of the newest players trying to capitalize on this shift. First launched as a general-purpose alternative to Google, it has recently introduced a dedicated travel hub designed to inspire trips, surface recommendations, and even support hotel bookings through partners like Tripadvisor and Selfbook.
The question for short-term rental managers is whether their properties will be visible in this new discovery funnel or left out.
How Perplexity Travel Works
Perplexity Travel is designed to simplify the research process by pulling information into one place. Instead of visiting ten different platforms to compare destinations, activities, and places to stay, a traveler can ask a single question and receive a curated summary.
Answers come structured, often divided into categories like “cities,” “beaches,” or “family-friendly,” with images and links back to sources. Suggested follow-up questions — “find pet-friendly rentals,” “compare amenities,” “plan a multi-city trip” — guide the user through planning in a conversational flow.
The platform is also meant to bridge inspiration and booking. Through partnerships with Tripadvisor and Selfbook, hotel options can in theory be reserved directly. For now, the experience still feels more like curated aggregation than a seamless booking engine. But the ambition is clear: Perplexity wants to become a single entry point for inspiration, research, and eventually transactions.
First Impressions: The Homepage
The Perplexity Travel homepage sets the tone for how the platform frames trip inspiration. At the top, a search bar invites users to type or dictate a query. Directly below, two rows of curated cards appear:
- Trending Destinations: Barcelona, Edinburgh, Gold Coast, Mexico City, Rio, Tokyo.
- Inspiration Cards: prompts such as “Best Hiking Trails in Slovenia,” “Best Hotels in the Catskills,” “Things to Do in the Dolomites,” and “Two-Night Luxury Stay in Japan.”
The choices are varied, mixing major global hubs with niche experiences. But one absence stands out: vacation rentals. Hotels are called out explicitly, while STRs do not appear on the homepage unless the user specifically asks for them.
That design decision matters. If this homepage is the first stop for travelers exploring Perplexity, the funnel begins by nudging them toward hotels and general activities. For professional managers, it means vacation rentals are not yet part of the curated front door, but positioned as a secondary option.
Looking for ‘Best Hotels in the Catskills’ on Perplexity Travel
One of the homepage “Inspiration” cards invites users to explore the “Best Hotels in the Catskills.” Clicking through, the results are presented in a polished, editorial style, almost like a digital magazine.
Hotels Get the Curated Treatment
The hotels here are neatly packaged: boutique inns, luxury stays, and recognizable names. This section feels curated and authoritative, with a level of design that suggests hotels are the default option in Perplexity’s travel experience.
Vacation Rentals Depend on Listicles
When we asked instead for “Best Vacation Rentals in the Catskills,” the tone shifted. Instead of a curated guide, Perplexity pulled from external listicles like “20 Best Airbnbs in the Catskills.” The results linked out to third-party sites but lacked the integrated map or “Places” tab visible in some hotel searches.
The rentals are present, but only through external content. Unlike hotels, they don’t receive a native Perplexity guide. This difference makes the gap between hotel and rental positioning stark.
Vrbo Dominates Group Stays
Follow-up prompts suggested by Perplexity took us deeper. Interestingly, searching “Large Group Vacation Rentals in the Catskills” surfaced Vrbo at the top, with listings like Catskills Villa. Airbnb was absent as direct mention. Instead, regional players such as Red Cottage Inc. and CatskillsCabinRentals.com appeared, giving visibility to niche sites rarely highlighted on Google.
This search appears to reinforce OTA positioning: Vrbo is treated as the go-to platform for large family or group rentals. The surprise was the inclusion of regional players, which suggests Perplexity may reward smaller, specialized sites.
Airbnb Surfaces in Lifestyle Categories
Another follow-up — “Pet-Friendly Vacation Rentals in the Catskills” — produced a different mix. Here, Airbnb reappeared, alongside Vrbo and BringFido, a niche directory for pet-friendly travel.
Airbnb regains visibility when the category aligns with its lifestyle branding. The inclusion of BringFido also shows how Perplexity elevates niche directories alongside OTAs, a rare opening for managers who appear on specialist platforms.
Searching for ‘Best Cities for Family Vacations in the U.S. This Fall’ on Perplexity Travel
When we asked Perplexity to find the “Best cities for family vacations in the U.S. this fall,” the answer blended big-name destinations with seasonal picks. Asheville, Chicago, San Diego, and Bar Harbor appeared, alongside Orlando, a classic choice for families, though not exactly tied to fall travel.
Familiar Names Lead the List
The cities surfaced draw from mainstream sources like USA Today and family-travel blogs. The mix is safe and predictable: theme-park capitals, cultural hubs, and classic New England foliage towns. What’s notable is that Orlando’s presence reflects brand strength rather than seasonal relevance.
AI Shapes How “Family Travel” Is Imagined
Beneath the main answer, Perplexity offered suggested follow-ups such as “Find family-friendly fall festivals,” “List affordable family vacation spots with kid activities,” “Suggest museums and zoos in major cities,” and “Best cities for scenic fall foliage drives with kids.”
The follow-ups show how Perplexity organizes family vacations into specific categories: festivals, affordability, kid-friendly activities, cultural attractions, and foliage drives. These intent-driven prompts matter because they reflect how AI is guiding the planning journey.
Implications for Vacation Rentals
While hotels and general city guides dominate, the follow-up prompts reveal entry points where rentals could fit in: cabins near foliage routes, houses close to festivals, or family-sized rentals near museums and zoos. For managers, the opportunity isn’t in the first layer of results, but in how travelers refine their queries as they go deeper.
Searching for ‘Best Places to Stay Near Oktoberfest Munich’ on Perplexity Travel
When we asked Perplexity for the “Best places to stay near Oktoberfest Munich,” the results leaned heavily toward hotels. The page highlighted luxury, boutique, and budget options in detail. Vacation rentals were mentioned only once, in passing: “Guest houses and short-term rental apartments are also worth searching for.”
Perplexity Travel’s results for Oktoberfest stays focus almost entirely on hotels, with curated descriptions, ratings, and direct links
Hotels Dominate the Event Funnel
The structured results gave travelers clear hotel categories to choose from, but offered no similar depth for vacation rentals. Despite the importance of alternative accommodations during high-demand events like Oktoberfest, STRs seem to have been reduced to a footnote.
Event-Driven Travel Remains a Blind Spot
This is where Perplexity’s limits are most visible. In real life, events like Oktoberfest rely heavily on short-term rentals to absorb demand. Yet the AI-powered search experience doesn’t reflect that reality, suggesting a bias toward hotel inventory and partnerships.
What This Means for Rentals
For now, event-driven searches may not surface vacation rentals in a meaningful way. That creates a gap: travelers planning around major events may walk away with the impression that hotels are the only option. For managers, it’s a reminder that AI discovery is still uneven, and that STR visibility remains inconsistent depending on the type of query.
Where Perplexity Travel Delivers and Where It Falls Short
Fast, Intuitive Inspiration
The biggest strength of Perplexity Travel is its speed and clarity. Answers are structured, easy to scan, and supported by citations. For travelers, that eliminates the need to bounce across ten different platforms just to compare destinations or accommodation types.
Transparent Sources, but Weighting Is Unclear
Every result links back to sources, which gives Perplexity more credibility than many AI tools. In travel, that matters. Yet what’s less clear is how sources are weighted. Why one blog appears over another, or why certain OTAs dominate in specific categories, isn’t transparent and that will matter more if sponsored placements are introduced.
Guest Intent Prompts Reflect Real Traveler Needs
The suggested follow-up prompts — “find pet-friendly rentals,” “compare amenities,” “best cities for fall foliage drives” — mirror real guest behavior. These cues can be valuable not just for travelers but also for property managers, who can use them as a form of market research. If Perplexity is surfacing these categories, it likely reflects the kinds of searches travelers are already making in high volume.
Visibility for Niche and Local Platforms
Perplexity doesn’t just funnel traffic to the big three OTAs, not at this time at any rate. Local agencies and niche platforms like Red Cottage Inc., CatskillsCabinRentals.com, or BringFido surfaced in our searches. That may be the most valuable aspect for vacation rentals today, the possibility for smaller players with strong online presence to be visible alongside OTAs.
Still Hotel-Forward by Design
The homepage, inspiration cards, and many top-level queries remain hotel-centric. Rentals only surface when explicitly requested, and when they do, the treatment is less polished, often listicles or external links rather than curated guides.
Booking Flow Is Inconsistent
Perplexity has announced hotel booking integrations through Tripadvisor and Selfbook, but in practice the feature is inconsistent. In our tests, no booking option appeared, even for hotels. Others have reported it working sporadically, but only for hotel inventory. For now, Perplexity remains a discovery layer rather than a true booking platform.
Where Perplexity Travel Could Go Next
Tripadvisor Ratings as a Visibility Signal
In accommodation results, Tripadvisor ratings already appear alongside property names. That’s a significant addition: reviews and ratings are not just useful to travelers, they may also influence how listings are prioritized in Perplexity’s future ranking system. If ratings play a bigger role, inventory with strong review scores could surface more consistently.
More Partnerships on the Horizon
Perplexity has already partnered with Tripadvisor and Selfbook for hotel bookings, and more integrations are likely. Each new partnership will expand the inventory pool and shape what types of properties get surfaced.
Sponsored Results Will Reshape the Feed
A logical next step for Perplexity’s business model is sponsored placement. That would mean results aren’t purely driven by data and sources, but also by commercial agreements. For travelers, this could blur the line between organic recommendations and ads. For the industry, it means distribution strategy might eventually extend to buying visibility in AI-powered search.
From Inspiration to Transactions
Right now, Perplexity is strongest as a discovery tool. The booking flow is inconsistent, and rentals don’t yet receive the same integrated treatment as hotels. But the trajectory is clear: the platform is trying to move beyond inspiration into transactions. If that shift succeeds, vacation rentals will need to secure a stronger place in the funnel or risk being left out of the booking layer entirely.
Uvika Wahi is the Editor at RSU by PriceLabs, where she leads news coverage and analysis for professional short-term rental managers. She writes on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, regulations, and industry trends, helping managers make informed business decisions. Uvika also presents at global industry events such as SCALE, VITUR, and Direct Booking Success Summit.
