Behind the scenes at hotelmarketer.ai

This time reminds us strongly of the founding of Hoteliers.com, in the early days of the internet. The World Wide Web was something new, no one knew exactly where it would go, and we were one of the first parties to build a commission-free booking module for hotels — the engine behind our international growth in the years that followed. Even then, we let ourselves be guided by the questions hoteliers were asking us. And that is exactly what is happening again now.

At our digital marketing agency for hotels, we have lately kept hearing the same question: how do I make sure my hotel is visible inside AI? It is a logical question, because guest search behaviour is shifting fast. More and more travellers are starting their search inside Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and other AI search engines. "What is a nice boutique hotel in the heart of Amsterdam?" And the AI gives a handful of recommendations. For travellers, hotels that are not on that shortlist simply do not exist. We wanted to close that gap.

First tested at our own property

After we built the software, we tested it first where we could see the consequences ourselves: at our own Bed & Breakfast Spinoza Suites in the heart of Amsterdam. It was great to see that the AI-optimisation score in Semrush — an independent platform that measures how findable and readable a website is for AI search engines — climbed to nearly 100% almost immediately.

Just as nice was something subtler. The way AI was talking about our property changed. Where the descriptions were generic and a bit thin at first, they suddenly became personal, warm and accurate, as if written by someone who had actually been there. That is because the hotelmarketer.ai software is live-connected to sources like Google Reviews and TripAdvisor. Recent reviews, current ratings and verified facts are pulled in automatically and processed into the so-called AI layer of the website: a layer written specifically for AI assistants, so they understand and retell your hotel the way you would yourself. The lovely part: a hotel can be live within 48 hours.

Now live in several countries

Today a growing group of hotels is running live across multiple countries, and from them we keep hearing the same thing: it works. Alongside the AI layer — which initially sits invisibly under the hood for a hotelier — every hotel receives a monthly Content Score. It shows you exactly how the six major AI assistants (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Grok and Mistral) describe your hotel right now, how often you are mentioned and cited, and how your own website scores on writing style, depth and how well you answer the questions guests ask.

The most important improvements for AI are named concretely. No vague advice, but exactly what is missing and where. Does your website lack clear check-in and check-out times, a cancellation policy or accessibility information? You see it straight away. And with the built-in Content Writer you then write stronger texts in your own style to close those gaps — so your score climbs further, month after month.

The beginning of something big

What strikes us most? Just like the early days of the internet, we are standing at the beginning of something big. The way guests find hotels is shifting fundamentally again, and once again we get to lead the way — together with the hoteliers who keep us sharp every day with their questions. That is what we do it for. From Guest & Co.