Every AI visibility pitch seems to come with the same checklist: schema markup, FAQ blocks, an llms.txt file, a faster website. A new study suggests much of it isn’t doing what you’re paying for.
Stiplo, a London startup founded by Ennismore’s former chief digital officer, ran 114 traveler questions about Barcelona through ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity 20 times each, covering all 659 hotels in the city. A few things jumped out:
- About 1 in 5 properties never showed up. Independents were eight times more likely than chains to be invisible. Once an independent made it into an answer, AI recommended it just as favorably. The problem is getting on the shelf.
- Google reviews were the strongest signal, far more than OTA reviews, and volume mattered more than score.
- The GEO checklist mostly came up empty. llms.txt, FAQ schema, and page speed showed no real effect. What helped was website content that answers real guest questions, like parking and airport transfers. Not exactly revolutionary.
- Getting recommended doesn’t mean getting the booking. A hotel’s own website was cited just 7% of the time, and closer to 4% for independents. The best fix? Rank in plain old Google search. So much for SEO being dead.
- AI has a long memory. Barcelona’s Grand Hyatt appeared 201 times under its old name.
A caveat: Stiplo sells AI visibility monitoring, so take its pitch for continuous monitoring with a raised eyebrow. And this is one city, measuring correlation, not cause.
For Hawaiʻi, branded Waikīkī hotels have their flag doing the heavy lifting. Independents and condo-hotels start from behind, but the niches are open. One Barcelona hotel near the stadium was 98 times more likely to appear for football trips. You don’t need to win “best hotel on Maui.” You need to be the obvious answer to a specific question.
As we said back in May, gatekeepers gonna gate. And the next time someone pitches you an expensive AI optimization package, ask how many Google reviews it comes with. 😉
Want to dive deeper? The Stiplo Barcelona Study, 2026 (full report). Keep in mind this is a lead gen form, so you not only get the report but lots of pitch emails as well.
