For years, hotel marketers focused on one goal: rank higher on Google. Traditional SEO revolves around keywords, backlinks, and technical site performance. The prize is a top position in search results, where users click through to your website.
NB: This is an article from Asksuite
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Generative Engine Optimization plays a different game and prioritizes optimization for rankings, GEO focuses on making your hotel understandable and trustworthy to AI. This means:
Understanding these differences is crucial to your hotel’s marketing strategy. With LLMs, travelers gain fast, easy access to information summarized directly through AI interactions. Consequently, they’re more likely to visit the referenced website only when they are confident about booking.
On the other hand, a traditional SEO focuses on ranking high within a list of links, leaving it up to travelers to gather the necessary details across various websites on their own. However, in either case, your hotel will remain invisible if your website isn’t readable by both LLMs and search engines.
How to make your hotel appear in LLMs
Large Language Models don’t browse your website like a human traveler. They scan, extract, and cross-reference information to build an understanding of what your hotel is and who it’s for. Understanding how they process information is the first step to optimizing for them.
Structure and clarity win
LLMs love structured, factual data. Poetic descriptions like “An unforgettable experience awaits” tell them nothing. Specific details tell them everything:
- “Vegan breakfast served from 7am to 11am”
- “500mbps high-speed Wi-Fi throughout the property”
- “Rooftop pool open year-round, heated in winter”
- “15-minute walk to Central Station”
The more precise your information, the easier it is for AI to match your hotel to a traveler’s request.
Consistency builds trust
AI cross-references multiple sources: your website, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Google Business Profile, OTAs. If your website says you have a pool but Booking.com doesn’t mention it, the AI’s confidence score drops. When confidence is low, the LLM avoids recommending your hotel to prevent generating inaccurate information, what’s known as “hallucination.”
