7 of 11 large hotel groups let an AI agent open checkout

On 18 October 2026, 2 live tests sent AI agents to the websites of the large hotel groups. One test used Claude and one used ChatGPT. Each agent tried to select a room and a rate. 7 of 11 groups let one agent or each agent open the checkout page. No test sent a reservation or gave payment data.

How it works

Each AI tool tried to read the information on the websites of 10 hotel groups. It then tried to select a room and a rate. “Checkout” is the page for guest data or payment.

The numbers

• Marriott, IHG, Accor and Choice: each agent opened checkout.
• Hyatt: a bot challenge stopped one agent. The other agent opened payment.
• Hilton: one agent opened payment. The other got a gateway error.
• Wyndham: no agent saw a rate.

What is not known

A different tool, Gemini, gave a report that all groups blocked reservations. Its paper gives no test method, dates or hotels. The live tests did not show the same result. No test measured guest behavior or revenue.

Insight: Bot software sets agent rules where hotels have no policy

Yelp, Delta and 2 banks stop AI agents by choice. At hotels, the report shows that bot software and not policy frequently sets access. This reads as a space where bot software makes the rules until each hotel group makes a decision. Two papers give a report that stopped agents go to intermediaries, but no test shows it.