If you’ve never heard of AEO or GEO for hotels, you’re not that far behind. The way we search for information online is evolving fast. Traditional search engines like Google are no longer the only gateway to information.
NB: This is an article from HiJiffy, one of our Expert Partners
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Instead, travellers are increasingly turning to answer engines like Google’s featured snippets, voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, and even generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, to plan and book their stays.
For hotels and hospitality businesses, this marks a significant shift. If your content isn’t optimised to be found and used by these new AI-driven platforms, you risk being left out of the conversation entirely.
This is where Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) come in. These relatively new but increasingly critical disciplines focus on making your content easily discoverable and usable by AI-powered engines that deliver answers, not just links.
What is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)?
Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) is the process of structuring and presenting your content so that it can be directly understood and used by answer engines – tools that deliver immediate answers instead of a list of clickable search results.
Think of it this way: while traditional SEO helps your hotel rank on Google, AEO helps your hotel get picked up by AI-driven systems that deliver answers directly to users.
What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of making your content more discoverable and usable by AI tools that generate answers from multiple sources, like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
Unlike traditional search engines, which display a list of websites, generative engines produce original responses by synthesising information found across the web. They don’t just pull facts – they craft answers. And if your hotel content isn’t visible or useful to these systems, it won’t appear in the final result.
Why AEO & GEO matter for hospitality in 2025 and beyond
The way travellers search, plan, and book their stays has fundamentally changed. In 2025, it’s no longer just about ranking on Google – it’s about being the answer.
With the rise of AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Google SGE (Search Generative Experience), and Perplexity, guests are turning to systems that summarise and recommend, rather than just list links. That means traditional SEO tactics, while still important, are no longer enough on their own.
What the search experience has become:
- Conversational – Guests ask detailed, natural-language questions like “What’s the best pet-friendly hotel in Madrid with parking and breakfast included?”
- Voice-driven – Voice assistants are giving single answers, not search result pages.
- Instant – AI summarises options in seconds, skipping over websites that aren’t optimised for direct use.
If your content can’t be easily discovered, understood, and trusted by these systems, it simply won’t be shown.
Why AEO and GEO for hotels matter
Hotels that embrace AEO and GEO stand to benefit from:
- Increased visibility in AI-generated answers – becoming part of curated recommendations.
- Higher relevance in voice and mobile searches – where zero-click results dominate.
- First-mover advantage – many competitors haven’t adapted yet.
But the risk is just as real: If your hotel isn’t part of the AI’s answer, you’re not part of the guest’s decision-making journey.
To recap, here’s a table outlining the key differences between AEO and GEO:
