--- title: "AI Brand Rankings: Chase Named First in 51.9% of Travel" url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category description: "AI brand rankings by category: Chase is the first brand AI names in 51.9% of 'best' travel answers, the strongest lead of 20 categories. See the data." lang: en --- Share Share on X: https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fai-favorite-brands-by-category&text=AI%20Names%20Chase%20First%20in%2051.9%25%20of%20Travel%20Answers%2C%20the%20Strongest%20Lead%20in%2020%20Categories Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fai-favorite-brands-by-category Share on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fai-favorite-brands-by-category Share on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fai-favorite-brands-by-category&title=AI%20Names%20Chase%20First%20in%2051.9%25%20of%20Travel%20Answers%2C%20the%20Strongest%20Lead%20in%2020%20Categories When AI engines answer "what is the best..." travel questions, most of them about travel credit cards, Chase is the first brand named in **51.9%** of answers. No brand in any of 20 shopping categories leads by as much, and in beauty the top brand is named first in 11.1% of answers. Analysis of AI answers to 2,000 "best product" and "best service" questions in 20 categories · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026 ## Key Findings 1. 1. Chase is the first brand AI engines name in **51.9%** of answers to "best" travel questions, and it is mentioned somewhere in 70.6% of them. Copy stat 2. 2. HubSpot is the first brand AI engines name in **34%** of answers to "best software" questions, the second-strongest lead of 20 categories. Copy stat 3. 3. Kia is named first in **33.3%** of AI answers about the best cars, and Hostinger in 31.7% of AI answers about the best web hosting and online services. Copy stat 4. 4. Capital One is mentioned in **66.7%** of AI travel answers, close to Chase's 70.6%, yet named first in 12.5% of them against Chase's 51.9%. Copy stat 5. 5. In beauty, the leading brand is named first in **11.1%** of AI answers, the weakest lead of 20 categories, so no single brand owns the top spot. Copy stat ## Summary Ask an AI engine for the best travel credit card and the first name in the answer is Chase more often than every other brand combined. Ask it for the best moisturizer and the first name changes from one answer to the next. The first brand in an AI answer gets the most attention: it is the one the reader sees before any comparison, and often the one they look up next. Knowing whether your category has a clear AI favorite tells a brand whether it is defending a lead, chasing one, or competing for a spot that is still open. Chase is named first in **51.9%** of AI travel answers, the strongest lead in any of 20 categories. HubSpot, Kia, Hostinger and Purina Pro each lead their category in about a third of answers. In beauty, kids, kitchen and gaming, no brand is named first in more than one answer in six. ## What we measured In September 2026 we asked five AI engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews (the AI summary above Google's search results), 2,000 questions of the form "What is the best [product or service]?", about 100 in each of 20 categories, from travel and software to pets and beauty. In travel, 69 of the 100 questions were about travel or airline credit cards; the rest covered hotels and airlines. In every answer we recorded which brands appeared and which one came first. "Named first" is the share of a category's answers in which a brand is the first one mentioned. "Mentioned anywhere" is the share in which it appears at any point. For each category, the leader is the brand named first most often. ## Chase owns travel 51.9% of AI answers to "best" travel questions name Chase first. Chase is the first name in more than half of travel answers and appears somewhere in 70.6% of them. With most travel questions about credit cards, that makes Chase the default answer for travel rewards in AI, a position no brand in any other category comes close to. The margin is the story. The next strongest leader in any category, HubSpot in software, is named first in 34% of answers, a much smaller lead, so for a traveler asking an AI engine where to start, the answer usually begins with one bank. ## Being mentioned is not the same as being first Chase and Capital One are both mentioned in about two thirds of travel answers, 70.6% and 66.7%. But Chase is named first four times as often, 51.9% against 12.5%. Delta is mentioned in 24.9% of travel answers and named first in 3.1%. Named first by travel brand Chase 51.9% Capital One 12.5% Delta 3.1% Source: Suff Digital analysis of AI answers to 2,000 "best product" and "best service" questions in 20 categories · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026 | Travel brand | Named first | Mentioned anywhere | | --- | --- | --- | | Chase | 51.9% | 70.6% | | Capital One | 12.5% | 66.7% | | Delta | 3.1% | 24.9% | The same pattern shows up elsewhere. Hostinger is mentioned in 61.2% of web hosting and services answers and named first in 31.7%; Kia is mentioned in 61.2% of car answers and named first in 33.3%. Being in the answer and leading the answer are two different results, and a brand tracking only mentions will miss which one it has. ## The leader in each category After Chase, the strongest leads belong to HubSpot in software (34% named first), Kia in cars (33.3%), Hostinger in web hosting and services (31.7%) and Purina Pro in pets (29.5%). Steelcase leads office furniture at 25.9% and Levi's leads apparel at 25.1%. Named first by category Travel 51.9% Software 34% Cars 33.3% Web hosting and services 31.7% Pets 29.5% Office 25.9% Apparel 25.1% Health 18.9% Insurance 18.3% Streaming 17.1% Gaming 15.7% Kitchen 14.6% Kids 13.7% Beauty 11.1% | Category | Brand named first most | Named first | Mentioned anywhere | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Travel | Chase | 51.9% | 70.6% | | Software | HubSpot | 34% | 50.7% | | Cars | Kia | 33.3% | 61.2% | | Web hosting and services | Hostinger | 31.7% | 61.2% | | Pets | Purina Pro | 29.5% | 63.1% | | Office | Steelcase | 25.9% | 36.7% | | Apparel | Levi's | 25.1% | 30.3% | | Health | Thorne | 18.9% | 35.6% | | Insurance | USAA | 18.3% | 52.5% | | Streaming | Apple | 17.1% | 53.6% | | Gaming | Razer | 15.7% | 39.9% | | Kitchen | Technivorm Moccamaster | 14.6% | 26.5% | | Kids | Chicco | 13.7% | 37.8% | | Beauty | EltaMD | 11.1% | 17.8% | The strongest leaders are brands that a category's reviews and comparison articles return to again and again, and AI engines repeat the consensus of the sources they read. Where one brand dominates that coverage, as Chase does for travel cards and HubSpot does for business software, it becomes the default first answer. The mentioned-anywhere column shows how far each leader's presence reaches: Purina Pro appears in 63.1% of pet answers, and Kia and Hostinger in 61.2% of theirs. ## Some categories have no clear favorite At the other end, beauty's leader, EltaMD, is named first in 11.1% of answers and mentioned in 17.8%. Kids (Chicco, 13.7%), kitchen (Technivorm Moccamaster, 14.6%) and gaming (Razer, 15.7%) are also open: in each, no brand is named first in more than one answer in six. These are categories with many strong brands and questions that split into sub-types, from sunscreen to serums or strollers to car seats, so the first name changes with the question. Insurance shows a different pattern: USAA is named first in 18.3% of answers but mentioned in 52.5%, present in most answers without owning the top spot. ## What this means for brand marketers Track two numbers, not one: how often AI engines mention your brand, and how often they name it first. A brand can be mentioned in two thirds of answers and still lead only one in eight. If you lead your category, the gap between those numbers is your risk; if you trail, it shows how much ground there is to take. In categories without a clear leader, such as beauty, kids, kitchen and gaming, the first spot is winnable. Aim for consistent placement near the top of the expert roundups, review sites and comparison articles AI engines draw on, and publish specific, comparable claims about your products that those sources can repeat. Working with an ai seo company (https://www.suffdigital.com/seo/ai-seo-services) lets you track both numbers for your category across every AI engine. ## Embed this research Paste this on your site to embed the charts. It links back to the source automatically.

Source: AI Names Chase First in 51.9% of Travel Answers, the Strongest Lead in 20 Categories - Suff Digital

## Cite this study APA Suff Digital. (2026). AI Names Chase First in 51.9% of Travel Answers, the Strongest Lead in 20 Categories. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category Plain link AI Names Chase First in 51.9% of Travel Answers, the Strongest Lead in 20 Categories - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category ## Frequently asked questions ### Which brand do AI engines recommend first most often? ### Which brand leads AI software recommendations? ### Which categories have no clear favorite brand in AI answers? ### Is being mentioned by AI the same as being recommended first? ## Related studies - AI SEO AI Engines Agree on at Least Two of the Top Three Brands in 70% of Product Categories: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-recommends-same-top-three-brands - AI SEO 32.2% of the 500 Brands That Rank Most on Google Are Never Named in AI Answers: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-visibility-index-500-brands - AI SEO ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity Name the Same Best Brand Only 25% of the Time: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-gemini-perplexity-best-pick - AI SEO Ask ChatGPT Twice and Its Top Pick Changes 56.3% of the Time vs 82.7% for Gemini: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-changes-top-pick ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization", "name": "Suff Digital", "alternateName": "Suff Digital Marketing", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "contentUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "caption": "Suff Digital" }, "image": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo" }, "description": "Suff Digital is a full-stack digital marketing agency that turns websites into predictable revenue engines, SEO, paid media, content, CRO, and web design built around revenue, not vanity metrics.", "slogan": "Digital marketing built for what's next.", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "foundingDate": "2022", "founder": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO" }, "contactPoint": [ { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "contactType": "sales", "areaServed": "US", "availableLanguage": [ "en" ] } ], "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "Nashville", "addressRegion": "TN", "postalCode": "37219", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/suff-digital/", "https://www.instagram.com/suffdigital/", "https://www.youtube.com/@suffdigitalmarketing", "https://www.tiktok.com/@suffdigital" ], "knowsAbout": [ "Search Engine Optimization", "Pay-Per-Click Advertising", "Paid Social Advertising", "Conversion Rate Optimization", "Web Design", "Digital PR", "Link Building", "Website Migration", "Website Maintenance and Support", "Technical SEO", "Local SEO", "AI Search Optimization" ], "hasOfferCatalog": { "@type": "OfferCatalog", "name": "Suff Digital Services", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/ppc" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Paid Social Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/paid-social" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/cro" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Web Design", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/web-design" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Digital PR & Link Building", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Migration", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-migration" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Maintenance & Support", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-maintenance" } } ] } }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "name": "Suff Digital", "inLanguage": "en-US", "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" } } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category#article", "headline": "AI Names Chase First in 51.9% of Travel Answers, the Strongest Lead in 20 Categories", "description": "When AI engines answer \"what is the best...\" travel questions, most of them about travel credit cards, Chase is the first brand named in 51.9% of answers. No brand in any of 20 shopping categories leads by as much, and in beauty the top brand is named first in 11.1% of answers.", "image": [ "https://www.suffdigital.com/images/suff-digital-share-16x9.jpg" ], "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category", "datePublished": "2026-09-24", "dateModified": "2026-09-24", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/who-we-are" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" }, "mainEntityOfPage": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category", "@type": "WebPage" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Resources", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Data Studies", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "AI Names Chase First in 51.9% of Travel Answers, the Strongest Lead in 20 Categories" } ] }, { "@type": "Dataset", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category#dataset", "name": "AI Names Chase First in 51.9% of Travel Answers, the Strongest Lead in 20 Categories", "description": "When AI engines answer \"what is the best...\" travel questions, most of them about travel credit cards, Chase is the first brand named in 51.9% of answers. No brand in any of 20 shopping categories leads by as much, and in beauty the top brand is named first in 11.1% of answers.", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category", "creator": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" }, "datePublished": "2026-09-24", "dateModified": "2026-09-24", "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "isAccessibleForFree": true, "measurementTechnique": "Answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity" }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-favorite-brands-by-category#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which brand do AI engines recommend first most often?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Chase. It is the first brand named in 51.9% of AI answers to \"best\" travel questions, most of which are about travel credit cards, the strongest lead of any brand in 20 categories (September 2026)." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which brand leads AI software recommendations?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "HubSpot. It is the first brand named in 34% of AI answers to \"best software\" questions and is mentioned in 50.7% of them." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which categories have no clear favorite brand in AI answers?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Beauty, kids, kitchen and gaming. In each, no brand is named first in more than one AI answer in six; in beauty the leading brand is named first in 11.1% of answers." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is being mentioned by AI the same as being recommended first?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "No. Capital One is mentioned in 66.7% of AI travel answers but named first in 12.5%, while Chase is mentioned in 70.6% and named first in 51.9%." } } ] } ] } ] ```