“I’m looking for a kitesurfing course on Lake Garda. Which schools would you recommend and what courses do they offer?”
Whether the question goes to ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, the guest wants a short list of options. Which school is right for me? Is there a beginner course during my holiday? What does the price include? How do I book?
That is where AI search starts to matter for sports schools. An assistant can put together a shortlist before a guest opens your website. If your course is missing from that shortlist, the guest may never get a chance to consider it.
How a question can turn into a booking
AI commerce starts with matching an offer to a guest’s needs. An assistant may link to a relevant course page. Where a channel can show offers directly, a guest may see the provider and price in the conversation. The next step might be a link to the school’s checkout. Some channels can also support a purchase inside the app.
A school recommendation, an offer card and a purchase are separate steps. An offer card may send guests to the school to book. A checkout that opens in the app’s browser still runs on the school’s website.
These services are developing in different ways. ChatGPT connects product discovery with the merchant’s store. Google introduced Universal Cart in the US, including in Gemini. Claude can cite sources directly in answers that draw on web search. For a sports school, the question is whether the service can also take account of the dates, available places, skill requirements and booking options for a specific course.
When will this matter for your school?
Recommendations, Google Maps, your website and returning guests all remain important. Once some guests start making their shortlist in a chat, it matters whether a service can understand and consider your offers.
Imagine two pages for someone looking to learn on Lake Garda. One says “Kitesurfing on Lake Garda.” The other explains who the course is for, where it starts, when it runs and how to check for a place. The second page gives a guest the information they need to make a decision. That clarity also gives AI search better information to work with. Google recommends the same fundamentals for its AI search features as for other indexable web content. Search services still choose what they show.
Start preparing while guests are still getting used to booking through a chat. Think of one specific question you would want your school to answer today.
What your school controls
With TIDEFORCE, your school can already take online course bookings and accept online payments through a connected Stripe account. See how booking and checkout work with TIDEFORCE.
We’re now rolling out AI commerce for sports schools. When the feature reaches your school, you can switch it on and choose which options to use.
- Visibility. Do you want to make your offers available to AI assistants? If so, which supported channels will you choose?
- Offers. Which courses, camps or other experiences may those channels display directly?
- Booking. Should guests book with your school, or may they complete the purchase in the app where the channel supports it for that offer?
Your school remains the provider. You set the prices and terms, manage the booking and keep the customer relationship. The channel gives guests another way to find you.
The options available at launch depend on the service, offer and market. For a guest to buy directly in the app, the channel must support that booking option for your offer. Each service decides which schools it recommends for a particular search.
Start with a question your next guest would ask
Choose a course you want to sell more often. Write a realistic question that includes a location, skill level and time of year. If you try it in an AI service, check the sources it links to. Does it mention your school? Is the course right? Do the price, dates and booking option match your course page?
Record the date, question and result. A single answer is only a snapshot of what guests might see. It can still help you spot an outdated price, an unclear course option or a booking link that goes to your homepage.
If the chat gives the wrong date, check whether old dates appear on more than one page. If the link goes to your homepage, check that the course has a clear, publicly accessible URL of its own. If the price is wrong, make the total and the deposit easy to tell apart on your course page. A clearer page can provide a better source even if the next chat answer takes time to catch up.
Test one course today. Then fix the detail your next guest needs most to make a decision.
How does this work at your school?
Bring an everyday task from your school. We’ll show you how it could work in TIDEFORCE.
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