Original research
AI Visibility Index for Hotels
How visible is your hotel when travellers ask AI where to stay? We track which hotels appear in AI recommendations, and what makes them appear.
Last updated: September 2026
Key findings
How we measure AI visibility for hotels
The AI Visibility Index is a structured measurement framework, not a black-box score. Here is exactly how we build it.
Query set
We maintain a library of traveller queries across three categories:
- Destination queries: "best hotel in [city]", "where to stay in [destination]", "boutique hotel [neighbourhood]"
- Trip-type queries: "family hotel [destination]", "romantic getaway [region]", "business hotel near [landmark]"
- Comparison queries: "[hotel A] vs [hotel B]", "is [hotel] worth the price", "hotels like [hotel]"
Each hotel in the Index is tracked against the queries that match its market, segment and competitive set, typically 40–80 queries per property.
Platforms
We run each query across three AI platforms:
- Google AI Overviews, the AI summary shown above organic results for qualifying queries
- ChatGPT (with browsing), conversational trip-planning queries
- Perplexity, source-cited AI search responses
Each platform weights sources differently, so a hotel can be visible in one and absent in another. We track each independently.
What we measure
For each query × platform combination, we record:
- Presence: Is the hotel mentioned in the AI response? (binary)
- Position: Where in the response? First mention, listed among several, or footnote?
- Citation source: What source did the AI cite for this hotel? (own website, OTA, review site, travel article)
- Booking path: Does the AI link to the hotel's direct booking, or to an OTA?
- Competitor context: Which other hotels appear in the same response?
Scoring
The composite AI Visibility Score for a hotel is a weighted index across presence (40%), position quality (25%), citation ownership (20%) and booking-path directness (15%). Scores range from 0 (invisible across all queries and platforms) to 100 (mentioned first, cited from own site, with direct booking link, across all tracked queries).
We report the composite score, the per-platform breakdown and the query-level detail, so you can see exactly where you appear and where you don't.
What earns a hotel AI recommendations, and what doesn't
Based on our tracking data, clear patterns emerge in what separates AI-visible hotels from invisible ones.
Entity consistency is the strongest signal
Hotels that appear consistently across AI recommendations share one trait above all others: their entity signals are consistent. The hotel name, location, star category, key amenities and unique selling points are presented the same way across their own website, Google Business Profile, major review platforms and travel media.
When entity signals are fragmented, different names on different platforms, inconsistent star ratings, vague or contradictory descriptions, AI engines either skip the hotel or present it with low confidence.
Structured data dramatically increases citation rate
Hotels with complete LodgingBusiness schema (including Room, Offer and FAQ markup) are cited at 4.2× the rate of hotels without structured data. This is the single highest-leverage technical intervention: it makes your hotel machine-readable in a way that unstructured content alone cannot.
Citability matters more than content volume
Having more content does not consistently predict higher AI visibility. What matters is whether the content contains clear, specific, quotable statements. A single well-written paragraph that says "a 42-room boutique hotel in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, 200 metres from Istiklal Avenue, with a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus" gives an AI engine a citable fact. A page of generic marketing copy gives it nothing.
Recent reviews and updated content boost freshness signals
AI engines weigh recency. Hotels with reviews from the past 90 days and website content updated within the past six months are meaningfully more likely to appear in AI recommendations than those with stale profiles. This is especially true for seasonal queries ("where to stay in [destination] in [month]").
The booking path gap is real
Only 38% of AI hotel recommendations include a direct booking link. The rest route through OTAs. Hotels that lose the booking path at the last mile, because their booking engine isn't machine-readable, or because the AI engine defaults to an OTA link, give away the commission even after winning the recommendation.
This will become more critical as agentic search matures: AI agents that attempt to book will fail or switch to a competitor if the conversion path isn't navigable.
What does NOT consistently predict AI visibility
- Domain authority alone. High-DR hotels without entity consistency still underperform lower-DR hotels with clean signals.
- Paid advertising. Paid search campaigns have no measurable effect on AI organic recommendations.
- Social media followers. No correlation found between social following and AI citation rate.
- Star rating. Both luxury and budget properties earn AI recommendations when their digital signals are clear and consistent. Star category is a filter, not a ranking factor.
The AI Visibility Index is a structured measurement framework that tracks how hotels appear in AI-generated travel recommendations across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, measuring presence, position, citation source and booking-path directness.
Where does your hotel stand?
Get a free AI Visibility Check, a snapshot of how your hotel appears across AI search platforms, benchmarked against two direct competitors.
Frequently asked questions
Is the AI Visibility Index a product I can buy?
The Index is our research framework. Every Publicus client gets ongoing AI Visibility Index tracking as part of their engagement. The free AI Visibility Check gives you a one-time snapshot.
How often is the Index updated?
We re-run the full query set monthly. Client-specific tracking is continuous. The public findings on this page are updated quarterly.
Can I see my hotel's score without becoming a client?
Yes, the free AI Visibility Check gives you a baseline score, competitor benchmark and prioritised opportunity summary. No commitment required.
How is this different from other AI visibility tools?
Most tools offer generic AI mention monitoring. Our Index is built specifically for hotels, uses a hospitality-specific query set and measures booking-path directness, not just mention counts. The methodology is transparent and the scoring is weighted by business impact.
Is the data real or projected?
All findings on this page come from actual query-level tracking data across real hotel properties. Sample sizes and confidence intervals are noted where applicable. We do not project or model scores, we measure them.
Can I cite these findings?
Yes. Please attribute to "Publicus AI Visibility Index" with a link to this page. If you need a specific data point for a publication, contact us for the underlying methodology detail.
See how your hotel shows up in AI search
Get a free AI Visibility Check. We show you where your hotel appears (and where it doesn't) across Google and AI answers. No obligation.