Six months after the first ad tests in the US, OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets on 24 August 2026, including Germany, the Netherlands and France (OpenAI, 2026). If you’re chatting with ChatGPT today, you might already be seeing ads.
If you work in travel or leisure, this new advertising channel deserves your attention now, because your guests are already using ChatGPT to plan their trips, whether your brand advertises there or not.
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AI in travel planning
AI has become part of trip planning across our markets, at different speeds. In France, 40% of travellers used AI to prepare a trip in 2026, up from 19% in 2025 and 9% in 2024 (L’Écho Touristique, 2026). In Germany, about 15% of people actively used AI for holiday planning in 2025, a number rising fast among younger audiences (MHP study, 2025). In the Netherlands, around 4.8 million people use ChatGPT at least once a month, roughly a quarter of the population (SimilarWeb, via Emerce).
Within our own team, the numbers are even higher: colleagues report that around 90% of their own trip research this year happened through ChatGPT (Red Online Marketing, 2026).
People turn to AI tools especially early in the travel funnel, right when they might not even know yet where they want to go. Whoever is visible in ChatGPT at that moment has a head start. A good example: cruise brands are currently gaining visibility specifically in ChatGPT, a trend that isn’t (yet) showing up in Google’s AI (fvw.de, 2026).
No surprise, then, that ads are now appearing in exactly this space. Since the end of August, visibility in ChatGPT can no longer only be earned organically: it can be bought directly, too.
ChatGPT Ads explained: how do you set them up and what do they look like?
It all started in February 2026, when OpenAI began testing ads in the US, at the time with high hurdles and steep minimum budgets. Access opened up in May with a self-serve option, and since 31 August that self-serve access has also been available across Europe (OpenAI, 2026). Advertisers can now set up their own ads account and launch campaigns without detours. Our team at Red Online France is already testing ads this way.
So what does it look like in practice? Ask ChatGPT a question, and a highlighted card appears beneath the AI’s answer, labelled “Sponsored” or “Ad”, with a short title, a description and an image. Click the image, and you land on the advertiser’s landing page.
Right now, only one title and one description can be created per ad. Unlike Google Ads or Meta Ads, testing different text variations within a single ad isn’t supported yet.
- Targeting stays simple: optional context hints (topics, keywords or conversation context) can be added. This isn’t exact-match targeting like Google keywords, more of a rough direction.
- Regional targeting isn’t possible yet. For holiday parks, campsites or day attractions with a clearly regional catchment area, that means paying for clicks from regions that aren’t necessarily relevant.
- Bidding: three models are available: CPM, CPC and a conversion-optimised CPC.
- Custom audiences (your own uploaded customer lists) can be included or excluded (OpenAI Help Center). This isn’t entirely straightforward from a data protection standpoint and should be checked beforehand.
Early results from ChatGPT Ads
It’s still too early to draw firm conclusions; the channel is simply too new. But early signals are emerging, and they line up remarkably well across sources.
Big travel brands are testing too: Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano confirmed the company is participating in OpenAI’s ChatGPT ads pilot (AltexSoft, 2026). How that is performing for Marriott isn’t public.
Numbers do come from Dutch agency Prodos, which recently shared its early experience in its newsletter. Their benchmarks so far: an average CPC of around €2.50 and a CPM of around €25. Only 1.2% of clicks result in an add-to-cart, compared with 5.1% on Google Ads, meaning cost per add-to-cart runs about four times higher. Prodos’ advice: start small, with a daily budget of €20 to €50, and after the first week look not only at hard conversions but also at micro-conversions.
Our own team at Red Online France did exactly that, running a test since the first week of September with a €20 daily budget. Performance after one week: a CTR of 1.11%, a CPC of €0.97 and a CPM of €10.47. Notably, that CPC sits well below the starting bid OpenAI itself recommends ($3 to $5), a sign of how little competition there currently is in the auction. As more advertisers get in, that is likely to change.
In the US, where the channel has been running longer, this shift already shows. According to Promptwatch, the share of ChatGPT answers containing an ad rose from 20.1% to 32.4% within a few months (Promptwatch, 2026). That is a preview of how quickly the European market could fill up. Getting in early pays off.
Reporting is another area where ChatGPT Ads is behind Google and Meta. In ChatGPT Ads Manager, we currently only see the basics: clicks, impressions and spend. What’s missing is audience insight (who actually saw the ad) and, above all, context: which prompts or conversation topics triggered the ad? A practical workaround is to use UTM parameters and your own website tracking.
What matters when targeting and reporting don't (yet) help
Precisely because targeting and reporting are still so limited, there is really only one lever advertisers can meaningfully influence: the landing page. A precise, clearly written landing page improves the odds of a well-matched ad placement.
That logic isn’t new. It is essentially what GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) has been about for a while. Whether a brand shows up in an AI answer, with no ad involved, comes down to the same principle: clear structure, demonstrable authority and content with real value. We summarised the impact of AI on search in how AI Overviews influence your organic traffic. Brands already active here get a double benefit with ChatGPT Ads, since a well-optimised GEO landing page usually also makes a strong ad landing page.
Paid and organic visibility in ChatGPT are two levers in the same channel, not two separate workstreams.
What does this mean for travel and leisure businesses?
- Not visible in ChatGPT yet? GEO basics first, advertising second.
- Want to be a first mover? Test now with a small budget, while competition is still low.
- Expecting direct bookings? Adjust your expectations: right now, reach, traffic and learning count, not hard conversions.
Want to know whether ChatGPT Ads could work for your brand? Get in touch and we’ll set up a first test together.
Sources
- OpenAI (2026): ChatGPT Ads expands across Europe
- OpenAI (2026): Ads in ChatGPT: The Basics
- L’Écho Touristique (2026): Voyageurs et intelligence artificielle, les chiffres clés de 2026
- MHP study (2025): Urlaubsplanung 2025
- SimilarWeb, via Emerce (2026): ChatGPT usage in the Netherlands
- fvw.de (2026): Warum die Kreuzfahrt bei ChatGPT vorne liegt
- AltexSoft (2026): Marriott’s way to rival AI tools is to join them
- Prodos newsletter (2026)
- Promptwatch (2026): How often does ChatGPT show ads? 90-day data
