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Published in March 2026 by researchers Roland Schegg and Jean-Claude Morand at HES-SO Valais-Wallis, this white paper addresses one of the most urgent challenges facing hotels: how to remain visible as search behaviour shifts from traditional search engines to AI-based assistants such as ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity.
The paper traces the transition from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), explaining why the rules of online visibility have fundamentally changed. AI assistants do not list dozens of links — they deliver a small number of direct recommendations in response to natural-language queries. To be selected, a hotel must provide clear, structured, consistent and verifiable information across multiple sources simultaneously: its own website, OTAs, Google Business Profile, destination information systems and partner platforms.
The paper covers the principles of semantic optimisation, including how structured data, schema markup and machine-readable content help AI systems understand and accurately represent a hotel's offering. It also examines the role of content quality, consistency and reputation signals in determining which properties appear in AI responses.
For destinations and DMOs, the paper is directly relevant: the same principles that govern hotel GEO apply to destination content and place-based recommendations surfaced by AI assistants. Destinations whose content is fragmented, inconsistent or poorly structured risk disappearing from AI-mediated discovery.
Published in March 2026 by researchers Roland Schegg and Jean-Claude Morand at HES-SO Valais-Wallis, this white paper addresses one of the most urgent challenges facing hotels: how to remain visible as search behaviour shifts from traditional search engines to AI-based assistants such as ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity.
The paper traces the transition from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), explaining why the rules of online visibility have fundamentally changed. AI assistants do not list dozens of links — they deliver a small number of direct recommendations in response to natural-language queries. To be selected, a hotel must provide clear, structured, consistent and verifiable information across multiple sources simultaneously: its own website, OTAs, Google Business Profile, destination information systems and partner platforms.
The paper covers the principles of semantic optimisation, including how structured data, schema markup and machine-readable content help AI systems understand and accurately represent a hotel's offering. It also examines the role of content quality, consistency and reputation signals in determining which properties appear in AI responses.
For destinations and DMOs, the paper is directly relevant: the same principles that govern hotel GEO apply to destination content and place-based recommendations surfaced by AI assistants. Destinations whose content is fragmented, inconsistent or poorly structured risk disappearing from AI-mediated discovery.
