The way travelers search for hotels online is changing. About 30% of travelers prefer to use AI Search to help draft their itineraries.
NB: This is an article from Operto
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Traditional search engines like Google are now facing new competition from AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and DeepSeek.
These new tools offer conversational, intent-driven responses, prompting hotels to rethink their content marketing strategies. Instead of focusing solely on keywords, optimizing for AI search requires creating natural, experience-driven content, utilizing structured data, and emphasizing voice search.
In this article, we share some tips to ensure your hotel remains visible in the AI-driven era.
How AI Search is Changing Your Hotel Business
Unlike traditional search engines that present a list of links, AI-powered search offers direct answers, personalized recommendations, and conversational responses. When a traveler asks, “What are the best smart hotels near me?” AI goes beyond simply matching keywords; it understands the user’s intent, context, and previous interactions.
As a result, hotels with well-structured content, clear answers to guest questions, and strong online reputation will be favored over those that rely on outdated keyword-stuffing techniques.
To remain competitive, hotels should ensure that their content is easily readable by AI. This can be achieved by clearly structuring information, providing detailed answers to common guest inquiries, and utilizing schema markup to help AI understand their offerings.
AI Search Optimization Tips
To ensure your hotel appears in AI-driven search results, focus on creating content that aligns with how AI-powered assistants process and deliver information. Here are key tips to improve visibility:
Use Conversational, Guest-Focused Content
AI search engines don’t just scan for keywords; they look for contextual, guest-friendly content that provides a clear, engaging experience. Instead of listing amenities with dry, keyword-based descriptions, focus on how each feature improves the guest experience.
Example: Instead of “We offer keyless entry,” say:
“Skip the line! Our hotel features hassle-free check-in with keyless entry, using your smartphones to unlock your room.”
This approach mirrors how guests naturally ask questions and ensures AI can surface your content in personalized search results.
Structure Your Content in a Q&A Format
AI search engines prioritize content that directly answers user queries. Hotels that structure their information in a FAQ format or include FAQ snippets are more likely to be featured in AI-generated recommendations.
By anticipating common guest questions and answering them clearly and structuredly, your hotel will become more accessible to AI search crawlers, improving discoverability.
One of the best examples of effectively addressing a wide range of frequently asked questions is Hotel Nomad. This illustrates that gathering common inquiries from data and surveys can significantly improve the user experience by offering clear instructions and easily accessible information.
