From search to suggestion: Mastering the shift to AI-powered motel marketing

In 2026, the traditional opportunities in Google Search and Google Maps have experienced a major shift.

Google is no longer just listing motels; it is recommending them through AI Overviews and Ask Maps. For independent properties, there is a window of opportunity to gain a significant advantage over your local competitors.

At Motel Coach, we view AI as a sophisticated extension of existing visibility across search and social. Large Language Models (LLMS) like Gemini (Google), ChatGPT (OpenAI), Llama (Meta), don’t guess about your motel or hotel’s key features; they pull data from 10-20 different locations, compile it and provide an answer.

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Your role here is to ensure that your information is available to the different models and that the right information creates the ideal narrative for your property.

Let’s look at an interesting insight:

If a user looks up Best Steak in Your Town, if you serve steak at your motel restaurant and guests rave about it when they leave Google Reviews, Google will showcase Steak in your Menu Highlights on your Google Business Profile. Menu Highlights rank higher on Google.

The local advantage

The Strategic benefit of a Local SEO Strategy is that global institutions like Booking.com and Expedia cannot create a Google Business Profile. This space is a significant opportunity to drive direct bookings, and the big takeaway from this article is that AI pulls data from a lot of existing SEO and Local SEO Marketing best practices.

Let’s go through our 4 non-negotiable AI strategies:

• Guest Review Sentiment – as we’ve mentioned above, Google pulls information from your reviews. We talked about how Steak becomes a Highlight in your Restaurant Menu and can drive increased visibility on Google. Google analyses your guest reviews for sentiment and to develop an understanding of your business. For example, if your guests consistently say the motel was quiet or family-friendly, those words will start to be showcased in Google AI Overview, Search and Maps for those terms.

Important note: we’ve not seen any effect from stuffing related keywords in the review response side. Keep your responses professional, natural and helpful.

• Diversify your Guest Reviews. While Google is a crucial part of both the Search and AI marketing landscape, there are multiple large companies in the AI space, and they pull reviews from platforms outside of the Google landscape, like Yelp and Facebook. While Yelp is not a front-of-mind strategy for the hotel and motel sector, aiming for a few reviews on the secondary platforms will be beneficial for your visibility in AI and will also increase your resilience to losing visibility as the models change where they pull their data from.

Read more AccomNews: Op-Ed: Is your motel trustworthy?

• Information Availability. Large LLMs use a number of sources to verify accuracy – posting motel information, answering forum questions, and keeping consistent information is a key ranking factor for a motel or hotel’s AI Visibility in 2026. We like: Reddit, Facebook, TripAdvisor, your personal website, and local or travel-related forums.
• Information Consistency. Large LLMs need consistent information from multiple sources to recommend your motel or hotel. Ensure your information is consistent, look at the following: Booking.com, Expedia, Reviews across Booking.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor, Google Business Profile, Websites, Relevant Accommodation Directories and Social Media.

Control your AI narrative

With this large shift in visibility, there is an opportunity to drive occupancy, improve direct booking rates and build a stronger business. From the early days of Booking.com and Google Hotel Search, there has always been a choice: be thoughtful and strategic with your online visibility or allow the big OTAs to dictate the terms. Nothing has changed; the choice to optimise and work with the available demand to build a resilient and profitable operation remains

Benjamin Douglas is the Founder of Motel Coach, a specialist Motel Management, Marketing, and Training Consultancy. With an extensive background overseeing operations and marketing at a group level—combined with hands-on experience within larger hotels—Ben excels at transforming independent properties into high-performance assets.