The short answer
- 1Complete your Google Business Profile, with amenities, photos and accurate rates, and connect your booking engine so travelers can book direct from search.
- 2Build pages for room types, the reasons people visit your area, and the events you host.
- 3Write local guides: things to do, where to eat, how to get there. Travelers search these before they pick a hotel.
- 4Ask every guest for a review after checkout and reply to all of them.
- 5Keep your details identical on Google, Bing, Tripadvisor and booking sites. That is also what gets you recommended by ChatGPT.
Know what your customers type into Google
Travelers search by place, by occasion and by type of stay. Booking sites win the broad searches. Independent hotels win the specific ones.
| They search | What they want | Page that wins it |
|---|---|---|
| "hotels in [your town]" | Options and prices | Google Business Profile with booking links |
| "pet friendly hotel [your town]" | A place that welcomes their dog | Pet policy page |
| "hotel near [venue or attraction]" | A short walk to their event | Page for each nearby venue |
| "things to do in [your town]" | Trip planning | Local guide written by your staff |
| "wedding venue with rooms [your area]" | Ceremony and guests in one place | Weddings and events page |
| "boutique hotel [your city]" | Something with character | Homepage and rooms page |
| "extended stay [your town]" | Weekly rates and a kitchen | Long-stay page with rates |
Want to know where you rank today? The free keyword rank checker shows your Google position for any of these phrases.
Set up your Google Business Profile properly
Hotel profiles on Google show prices, amenities and booking links right in search. A complete profile connected to your booking engine lets travelers book direct instead of through an online travel agency.
Primary category
Hotel
Secondary categories to look for
Resort hotel, Extended stay hotel, Inn, Bed & breakfast. Only add the ones you actually sell.
- Pick the one category that describes your property best. Hotels have fewer category options than other businesses.
- Fill in every amenity: parking, breakfast, pool, pet policy, accessibility. Travelers filter by them.
- Connect your booking engine through a Google hotel partner so your direct rate shows next to the online travel agencies.
- Upload photos of every room type, the views, the breakfast and the neighborhood. Update them each season.
- Reply to Q&A about check-in times, parking and pets. Those answers show in search.
Google renames categories from time to time. Pick the closest match from the list in your profile dashboard.
Build the pages Google needs to see
Your website has to compete with booking sites on information and beat them on reasons to book direct.
One page per room type
Real photos, size, beds, view and what is included. Booking sites show the same three photos, so detail here wins direct bookings.
Pages for why people visit
The university, the hospital, the stadium, the wine trail. Pages like "hotel near [venue]" rank for travelers who already know where they need to be.
A local guide section
Things to do, where to eat and seasonal events, written by your staff. These rank for trip planning searches and get quoted by AI tools.
A book-direct page
Explain what guests get by booking with you: best rate, free breakfast, flexible cancellation, early check-in. Give them a reason to skip the booking site.
Add LocalBusiness schema to your homepage so Google and AI tools read your name, address, phone and service area correctly.
Get reviews that mention the job and the town
Travelers read reviews on Google and Tripadvisor before booking. Recent reviews that mention rooms, staff and location help you rank and convert.
Message you can send after checkout
Hi Emma, thank you for staying with us in Stowe! If you enjoyed your visit, a quick Google review would help other travelers find us: [link]. We hope to see you again.
- Send the request by email or text the day after checkout.
- Reply to every review, thanking guests by name and fixing what they raise.
- Ask for Tripadvisor reviews too. Travelers and AI tools both check it.
Publish before the busy season, not during it
Travelers book weeks or months ahead. Publish content for each season and event well before people start planning.
3 months ahead of peak
Seasonal guides, event pages and packages for your busiest period.
Before major local events
A page for each festival, game, graduation or conference that fills the town.
Before holidays
Holiday packages, family stays, gift certificates.
Off-season
Midweek deals, long-stay rates, business travel and quiet getaways.
Get recommended when customers ask ChatGPT
More people now ask AI tools for a recommendation instead of scrolling Google. ChatGPT answers with a short list of names, and the businesses on it are the ones it can find clear, consistent information about.
A customer asks ChatGPT
"Where should I stay in Asheville for a quiet weekend with my dog?"
- ChatGPT builds its answer from your website, review sites and travel guides. If your details differ across them, it is less likely to name you.
- Keep your Tripadvisor listing complete and active. Travel review sites are common sources for AI answers about where to stay.
- Claim Bing Places. ChatGPT's web search leans heavily on Bing, and many hotels only set up Google.
- State plainly on your site what kind of traveler you suit: pet friendly, family, romantic, business. AI tools match those words to the question.
- Get mentioned in local tourism board pages, travel blogs and "where to stay in [town]" articles.
Check where you stand with the free AI visibility checker, then follow our step-by-step guide on how to get ChatGPT to recommend your business.
Mistakes that keep hotels off page one
Relying fully on booking sites
Online travel agencies take a commission on every room. Without your own rankings, every booking costs you.
No booking link in Google
If travelers cannot book direct from your Google listing, they click through to an online travel agency instead.
Old photos
Photos from before your renovation lose bookings and cause complaints. Update them every season.
No local content
Travelers plan around the area, not the hotel. Hotels that write about the area rank for the searches that come first.
Do it yourself, hire an agency, or use software?
Everything above works no matter who does it. The question is whether you have the hours each week to keep it going.
| Do it yourself | SEO agency | GrandRanker | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Your time | $1,000 to $4,000 a month | From $0.79/day |
| Time from you | 3 to 5 hours a week | Monthly calls and approvals | About 5 minutes to set up |
| New pages and articles | When you find time | Usually 1 to 4 a month | Published to your site every week |
| Map Pack and ChatGPT tracking | Manual searches | Monthly report | Tracked for you |
| Contract | None | Often 6 to 12 months | Cancel anytime |
Want this done for you?
GrandRanker writes and publishes the service pages, town pages and seasonal articles from this guide, posts to your Google Business Profile, and tracks where you show up on Google and in ChatGPT.
14-day money-back guarantee