Google tests AI Overviews in the hotel side panel

Google appears to be moving AI Overviews away from the top of the results page for one query type. On hotel searches, the AI Overview shows at the bottom right, under the hotel knowledge panel. Barry Schwartz reported it at Search Engine Roundtable on 24 September 2026.

What is Google testing?#

The test repositions the AI Overview from its usual top-of-page slot to a bottom-right spot beneath the hotel knowledge panel. It appears when a hotel knowledge panel is brought up in Google Search. Schwartz notes that in his own searches the AI Overview still shows at the top.

Who spotted it?#

Lluc Penycate shared the screenshots on X. The report says the images were hard to read because X downsized them. It mentions no official Google confirmation, so we treat this as an observed test that may change or disappear.

How it connects to local panels#

Schwartz says the placement may be related to a change he reported a week earlier, on 17 September 2026, in which local knowledge panels for businesses were turned into an AI Overview listing. That version carries an “AI Overview” label at the top of the listing and a “Show more” button that opens an AI Mode style follow-up chat. Ben Fisher posted it on LinkedIn, and Schwartz was able to replicate it.

Testing his own company’s panel, Schwartz found the summary mostly correct but partly out of date, and put that down to old content on his own corporate site. That is the most useful detail in either report: the AI summary of a business can only be as current as what it draws on.

What does it mean for hotel SEO?#

Nothing measurable yet: the source gives no rollout scope, no traffic data and no timeline. Schwartz suggests most people would rather see an AI Overview lower on the page than at the top.

What a hotel can control is the same as for any page. Google’s AI features documentation says a page must be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet to appear as a supporting link, and that no special optimization is needed. In practice:

• Keep the hotel’s own website current, especially descriptions of rooms, amenities and services.
• Keep the Business Profile accurate, since the local panel is where the AI Overview now sits. Google is also testing a faster way to set Business Profile hours.
• Watch your own hotel query layouts, desktop and mobile, before drawing conclusions.

For what else tends to appear on a results page with an AI Overview, see Semrush’s data on SERP features beside AI Overviews.