Over the past decade, hotels have worked hard to remain visible online, investing in OTAs, metasearch, paid media, review management, and website improvements. Whether managing this in-house or with the help of partners, teams have been actively shaping their digital presence and building their brand, often with lean resources and high expectations.
While traditional search engine optimization (SEO) may not have been a central focus for every property, visibility has always been a priority, and hotels have made efforts to meet guests where they search.
But the way travelers discover hotels is changing fast.
Today’s guests aren’t just scrolling through OTAs or Googling “best hotels in London.” Increasingly, they’re asking generative AI (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to help plan their trips. These tools provide conversational recommendations, like: “Here are a few highly-rated, walkable hotels near Hyde Park with rooftop views.”
This shift is creating a new kind of digital visibility, one that doesn’t rely on ad spend or rankings, but on how well AI understands and trusts your hotel’s online presence.
GEO is the practice of optimizing your hotel’s digital footprint so that AI tools can find, understand, and recommend your property. It builds on many of the same SEO fundamentals that hotels have already been investing in, including structured content, compelling visuals, consistent listings, and strong reviews, but brings a new layer of strategy.
Where traditional SEO is about ranking in Google’s search results, GEO is about getting recommended by generative AI platforms. And while that might sound technical, it presents an exciting shift for hotels.
Cloudbeds’ recent report, The Signals Behind Hotel AI Recommendations, analyzed how generative AI tools choose which hotels to surface, and what stood out was how much weight is placed on sources that hotels directly manage.
In the next sections, we’ll unpack what these AI tools value most and walk through practical strategies you can use to increase your hotel’s visibility and capture more demand.
Unlike traditional search engines, which return a list of ranked links, generative AI tools synthesize information from multiple sources to produce a single, conversational response. That means hotels are competing to be mentioned as one of the top answers.
So what determines whether your property makes the cut?
Cloudbeds’ report found that AI platforms favor the following sources:
Major OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia, as well as niche platforms, are among the most commonly cited sources in AI-generated responses. These listings often include rich content like photos, amenities, reviews, and rates, which AI tools can easily interpret and use to build a full picture of your property.
Your website is one of the few sources you fully control and one of the most valuable. In fact, the study found that hotel websites appeared in over 13% of AI citations, well above the average of 9% across brands in other industries.
Generative AI tools are particularly skilled at reading and analyzing reviews. They don’t just look at star ratings but process written feedback across Google, Tripadvisor, and OTAs to understand sentiment and common guest takeaways.
If guests frequently mention things like your rooftop bar or pet-friendly policy, AI will pick up on those themes. Conversely, inconsistent service or recurring complaints may also be flagged.
AI tools value authenticity. That’s why user-generated content like travel blogs, YouTube reviews, Reddit threads, and Tripadvisor forum posts often influences which hotels get recommended.
This content reflects how travelers talk about your hotel, what experiences stand out, and who your property is best suited for. If someone on Reddit says, “This was the perfect hotel for digital nomads,” or a blogger praises your eco-friendly design, that language may surface directly in an AI recommendation.
Now that we’ve unpacked the sources AI engines use to discover and recommend hotels, let’s talk about what you can actually do to improve your visibility.
The good news? Many of the tactics that improve your GEO presence are well within your control and don’t require major budget or technical expertise.
AI engines don’t just look at the big players; they also pull from niche sites that serve specific traveler types, like wellness, luxury, sport, or eco-friendly properties. The more high-quality listings your hotel has across trusted platforms, the more visible and “reliable” your property appears to AI.
A channel manager makes it easy to connect to a wide range of OTAs, keep your listings consistent, and expand your reach without the manual work.
From your property name to your room types, amenities, pricing, and photos, ensure everything is accurate and aligned across your website and OTAs. Inconsistent details (like calling a room a “Deluxe King” on one site and a “Premium Suite” on another) can confuse AI and hurt your chances of being surfaced as a match for guest queries.
Your website is one of your most valuable assets, but only if AI can read it. Most AI crawlers, including those used by tools like ChatGPT and Claude, don’t execute JavaScript, meaning important content embedded in dynamic elements could be missed entirely.
Some tips include:
AI engines prioritize content that’s credible and clearly structured. Here’s how to improve your website’s authority in their eyes:
To have positive sentiment in the eyes of GenAI, encourage happy guests to leave reviews across major platforms, and make it a habit to respond in natural, conversational language.
When you say things like “Thanks, we’re so glad you enjoyed the rooftop bar—our team loves creating those sunset moments!” you’re reinforcing what your property offers in language AI understands.
User-generated content like travel blogs and YouTube reviews carries weight with AI. These third-party mentions help validate your brand and give AI tools more language to associate with your property.
A single blog post or vlog that says “This was the best hotel for digital nomads in Lisbon” could become a key signal in an AI recommendation for remote workers.
Mentions on Reddit and Tripadvisor can influence how AI tools describe your hotel. If your brand comes up, make sure the information is accurate, or consider joining the conversation. Just like with reviews, authenticity matters, and travelers tend to trust peer recommendations over marketing copy.
GenAI is rapidly becoming a core part of planning a stay, with nearly 30% of travelers already using it.
AI favors authenticity, consistency, and clarity, which are qualities that any hotel can achieve. By applying these strategies, you can take control of your digital presence and position your property for visibility in the moments that matter.
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Cloudbeds is hospitality’s only intelligent growth engine—a unified platform powering operations, revenue, distribution, and guest experience for ambitious hoteliers in 150+ countries. With Signals, the industry’s first AI foundation model, properties can anticipate demand, automate operations, and deliver more personal, profitable guest journeys.
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