The AI visibility game just got serious for hoteliers
As guests increasingly use AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini to research stays, hotels risk losing bookings to OTAs if they lack visibility or accuracy in AI-generated recommendations.
Explainer Articles
The numbers behind AI's rise as a booking channel for independent hotels
Lighthouse data shows AI referral traffic to hotel websites surged over 50% in weeks after ChatGPT expanded outbound links, with independent hotels best positioned to capture commission-free direct bookings.
By Femke Nollet, Content Specialist, Lighthouse
How to Map the Hotel Customer Journey and Increase Bookings
A practical guide to mapping all six stages of the hotel guest journey, from inspiration to post-stay loyalty, with tactics to increase direct bookings at each step.
Winning the AI inbox: What hotel marketers need to know about email deliverability in 2026
A guide for hotel marketers on adapting email strategy to AI-powered inboxes like Gmail Gemini and Apple Mail, covering deliverability, segmentation, and content optimization.
You track your Google rank every week. Why aren't you tracking your AI rank?
As AI assistants reshape how travelers research hotels, most properties lack tools to track whether or how they appear in AI responses, ceding bookings and brand narrative to OTAs.
By Paige Lopez, Content marketer, Lighthouse
How to turn the 2026 World Cup into your hotel website's direct booking moment
A tactical guide for hoteliers on optimizing hotel websites to convert high-intent World Cup 2026 traffic into direct bookings using urgency messaging, personalization, and upsell strategies.
By Paige Lopez, Content marketer, Lighthouse
Mobile only price: What it means and how hotels can use it
An explainer on mobile-only pricing on OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia, covering setup, strategic use cases, revenue trade-offs, and rate parity risks for hoteliers.
By Laure Cremers, Content Specialist, Lighthouse
The independent hotelier's playbook for reducing OTA commission
The guide provides tactical strategies for independent hotels to reduce OTA costs through better negotiation, promotional program evaluation, and direct booking optimization.
By Paige Lopez, Content marketer, Lighthouse
The 2026 World Cup won’t deliver demand the way hotels expected. Here’s how to respond.
Hotel bookings for the 2026 World Cup are tracking closer to normal levels, forcing properties to shift from static forecasting to real-time demand response strategies.
By Nicola Graham, Chief Marketing Officer, Cendyn™
The rise of "bleisure" travel and what it means for your hotel website
The article provides strategies for hotels to capture the growing bleisure market through website optimization, flexible amenities, and AI-driven personalization.
By Paige Lopez, Content marketer, Lighthouse
Smart contracting: Building better base business
The article explains how hoteliers can build recurring guest relationships through targeted sales efforts with demand drivers like airports, military bases, and construction projects.
By Daniel Foreman, Commercial Strategist, Lighthouse
Why events like Harry Styles' tour demand a smarter direct channel strategy for your hotel
Using Taylor Swift and Harry Styles concert data, the article shows how hotels can capture event-driven travelers through targeted direct booking campaigns and personalized website experiences.
By Paige Lopez, Content marketer, Lighthouse
How AI is reshaping the direct channel opportunity for hotel marketers
AI-powered personalization tools now enable hotel marketers to create targeted website campaigns in seconds rather than days, addressing the execution gap that prevented teams from capitalizing on direct booking opportunities.
By Paige Lopez, Content marketer, Lighthouse
Why reputation management directly impacts your hotel’s visibility (and bookings)
Reviews directly influence Google and OTA ranking algorithms through volume, ratings, freshness and response activity, creating a cycle where better reputation drives more visibility and bookings.
By Femke Nollet, Content Specialist, Lighthouse
Hotel SEO for beginners: How independent hotels can rank higher on Google
Lighthouse provides independent hoteliers with practical SEO tactics including Google Business Profile optimization, review management, and direct booking integration to compete with OTAs.
By Laure Cremers, Content Specialist, Lighthouse
More reviews, more bookings: A complete guide to online reputation management for hotels
The guide outlines six steps for hotels to leverage reviews for bookings, from monitoring feedback to automating responses across platforms.
By Femke Nollet, Content Specialist, Lighthouse
OTA guest conversion strategy for hotels: The ultimate guide
Comprehensive guide on converting OTA guests to direct bookers through staff training, automated email sequences, and incentives to reclaim up to 30% commission fees.
Lead nurturing for hotels: From inquiry to confirmation
You have revenue hiding in plain sight…and it’s slipping away.
Total revenue management: Hotel upselling across guest touchpoints
When most people think of hotel upselling, they often think of it as offering a guest a bigger room at check-in. But today, upselling in hotels means so much more. Every single interaction you have with a guest — from booking to pre-arrival communications to in-person conversations — is an opportunity to create both value for your guest and revenue for your property. THere’s just one key difference, and that lies in how you approach it.
By Karen Stephens, Chief Marketing Officer, Revinate, Inc.
What Is MAPE? A hotelier’s guide to forecast accuracy
As a hotelier, you’ll know the frustration: you build a forecast you trust only to see actual results veer wildly off course.
By Jonathan Gough, Content Team Lead, Lighthouse