How Accommodation Businesses Can Stay Visible in the New Era of AI Search
Search is changing. For motels, hotels, campgrounds, holiday parks and short-term rental operators, being visible online is no longer just about ranking for a keyword.
To understand what may influence visibility, we looked at modern organic and AI search through a simple model using 15 different variables - including relevance, content quality, reviews, trust, local information, technical SEO, freshness, external mentions, brand strength and domain history.
We then applied illustrative weightings to show how these signals can work together.
These are not Google's official ranking weights. Search engines do not publish a fixed formula. The model is simply a practical way to explain the change.
Key takeaway
Search engines are increasingly trying to determine the probability that your property is a relevant, trustworthy and useful answer for a particular traveller.
For an accommodation business, the strongest signals are likely to come from a combination of:
- relevant and useful website content,
- strong and recent guest reviews,
- an accurate and active Google Business Profile,
- genuine local knowledge,
- clear property and facility information,
- technical SEO,
- regular content updates,
- and external mentions or links.
No single factor guarantees visibility. The stronger these signals are together, the stronger your chances of being understood, trusted and selected.
What might those signals look like?
A simple illustrative model could look something like this:
| Relevance to the traveller's search | 20% |
| Useful, high-quality content | 15% |
| Reviews and reputation | 12% |
| Google Business Profile accuracy and activity | 10% |
| First-hand local knowledge | 10% |
| External mentions and links | 8% |
| Technical SEO and website structure | 7% |
| Fresh, regularly maintained information | 5% |
| Clear business information | 4% |
| Titles, metadata and page signals | 3% |
| Brand recognition | 3% |
| Internal linking | 2% |
| Domain age and other legacy signals | 1% |
The exact percentages are not the important part.
The important point is that modern search relies on many signals rather than one SEO tactic.
Travellers are asking more detailed questions
Traditional searches such as:
“Motel Rotorua” or “Hotel Queenstown”
still matter.
But travellers are increasingly asking questions such as:
- “Where can I stay near Queenstown with free parking and late check-in?”
- “Which campgrounds near Auckland are suitable for campervans?”
- “What accommodation near Waikato Hospital is suitable for a week-long stay?”
- “Find me a pet-friendly short-term rental near the beach.”
Modern search and AI-powered search can interpret these questions and compare information from multiple sources.
That means your property needs to be clearly understood, not simply indexed.
Be specific about what you offer
Generic website copy such as:
“Comfortable accommodation in a convenient location.”
provides very little useful information.
Compare that with:
“Our Hamilton motel offers free onsite parking, kitchen facilities, self check-in and family rooms, five minutes from Waikato Hospital.”
The second example gives search engines much stronger clues about the property, its location, facilities and the types of guests it may suit.
Specific information increases relevance.
Give evidence, not just marketing claims
Instead of saying "We are one of the best motels in town," provide proof: "Family owned since 2008, with free onsite parking and more than 400 verified guest reviews."
Evidence like reviews, genuine photos, awards, years operating and facility details persuades travellers and search engines far more than adjectives.
Answer the questions guests already ask
Your reception team probably hears the same questions repeatedly:
Is there parking? Can I check in late? Are pets allowed? Do the rooms have kitchens? Are there powered campervan sites? How far are you from town?
Those answers should also be easy to find on your website.
They are exactly the types of detailed questions travellers are increasingly asking search and AI tools.
Reviews and Google Business Profile matter
For accommodation operators, guest reviews provide valuable independent evidence about the experience you offer.
Recent, genuine reviews can reinforce information about cleanliness, location, service, facilities and overall guest satisfaction.
Your Google Business Profile is another important source of information about your property.
Keeping your:
- contact details,
- categories,
- facilities,
- photos,
- opening information,
- reviews,
- and website links
accurate and current helps create a clearer picture of an active and trustworthy business.
Use the local knowledge you already have
Accommodation operators have something large travel websites often cannot reproduce easily:
first-hand local knowledge.
You know where guests like to eat, what is within walking distance, where to park, which attractions suit families and the questions visitors repeatedly ask.
Turn that knowledge into useful content.
Instead of another generic article called:
“Things to Do in Taupō”
consider something more specific:
“A Campervan Traveller's Guide to Staying in Taupō”
or:
“Where to Stay Near Waikato Hospital: A Guide for Patients and Families.”
That information helps travellers while also demonstrating genuine experience and local expertise.
Keep your information fresh
Freshness does not mean publishing something every day.
It means ensuring the information on your website is still accurate and useful.
That might involve:
- updating room or property photos,
- refreshing local guides,
- adding commonly asked questions,
- updating facilities,
- adding new guest information,
- or improving existing pages.
A regularly maintained website provides stronger evidence that the information can be relied upon.
SEO still matters, but the objective is changing
Keywords, metadata, links, site structure and technical SEO remain important.
But instead of asking only:
“How do we rank first for ‘motel Wellington’?”
a better question is:
“How do we increase the likelihood that a search engine sees us as a useful and trusted answer when someone is deciding where to stay in Wellington?”
That is where traditional SEO, AEO and AI search optimisation increasingly come together.
From the Seekom perspective
For accommodation providers, your website is becoming more than a digital brochure or booking page.
It is increasingly the source of truth about your property.
Your booking system tells travellers what is available.
Your wider digital presence should clearly communicate what you offer, who your property suits, where you are relevant and why travellers should trust you.
You do not need hundreds of new pages.
You need to consistently strengthen the signals that help search engines understand your business.
The future of search is not simply about being ranked. It is about being understood, trusted and selected.
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Seekom gives Penny's Drop family time
to build the dream Des started
Managers: Alex and Connor Offen
Central Otago draws all sorts of travellers, including cyclists riding the Lake Dunstan Trail between Cromwell and Clyde, seasonal workers picking up shifts at local orchards and packhouses, school groups, sports teams, and families seeking adventure. At Penny's Drop Inn, just outside Cromwell, all of them end up mixing together around the same fireplace.
"The original dream of dads was to provide shared accommodation where people could socialise, share stories, meet other travellers and use it as a base to explore Central Otago," says manager Alex Offen.
"During our busy season, there’s a really cool atmosphere. There are lots of people enjoying lawn games and sharing stories in the communal areas."
Penny's Drop opened in 2020 and is designed to sleep 30 people across two seven-bed dorms and eight double rooms, with a camping area, lounge and commercial kitchen guests share.
It is also home to two dogs, a cat, three sheep, 12 chickens and two goats – including Penny, the first animal to spend a night on the property and the source of its name.
"It's very modern – high roofs, good security, and we aim to just make it really nice" Alex says.
The family’s dream isn't complete just yet either. The plan is to add a boutique campground alongside the existing accommodation including four powered and eight non-powered sites, plus glamping pods and a few more animals including horses. This will lift the capacity from 30 to 60 guests and allow more travellers, cyclists and families to enjoy Pennys Drop and Central Otago.
Systems that keep pace with a growing accommodation business
Ambitions like that need an operation that can scale without swallowing the family's time – something Alex's parents, Des and Lynlea, understood well from the start.
"Seekom was really cool when we were setting it up. The support team was always around to answer our many questions. I have used Seekom software for about a year, but my parents have been using it as long as Penny’s Drop has been operating.”
All of Penny's Drop's rooms are linked to its website through Seekom, so guests can book online directly using Seekom’s embedded online booking screens.
Pricing across the property is easy to manage too, she says.
"All our rooms are set up in the system so they can be reduced or increased in price by a set percentage with one quick change, rather than having to do it room by room, and that saves a lot of time."
The family has also put Seekom's communication tools to work for one of the trickier parts of running shared accommodation: guests arriving after hours.
"We make good use of Seekom’s communications tools and have set up template emails for late check-ins, with videos included so guests know what to do if they are arriving late. We have had some good feedback from guests on those."
Payments run through the integrated SeekomPay solution, closing the loop from booking to payment in one place.
Running it together as a family
Des and Lynlea started Penny's Drop together, and Alex and her brother and sister have taken on a more active role in running it alongside their mum since Des passed away in 2025.
"Dad had a dream for this place but I wish he could see it now," Alex says. "Getting the technology all working well was the final part."
It's freed up something the family didn't have much of during the peak summer months.
"We're fully family run, so it's all hands on deck from November to the end of March when things get really busy," Alex says.
"Even mum now says she has her evenings free because Seekom makes things so much simpler. It's been a game changer."
With the systems doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes, the Offen family can put their energy where it matters most – into the atmosphere, the welcome, and turning first-time guests into the kind who come back year after year.
Note: Something you may not know is that we also build websites. Many of our customers have Seekom-built, self managed websites with full control, backed by our expert setup and support. If you’re interested in finding out more, please get in touch.
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Seekom gives Kauri Court owners time to provide ‘Kiwi hospitality as it should be’
Owners: Neil and Amber Aitkenhead
Palmerston North has no shortage of places to stay. With dozens of accommodation providers competing for guests across the city, standing out takes more than a comfortable bed.
For Neil and Amber Aitkenhead, who invested in Kauri Court Motel & Apartments in 2024, the answer is straightforward: people matter, so be genuinely good to people and make sure the business’ systems run smoothly enough behind the scenes to let you do exactly that.
“Hospitality as it used to be, accommodation as it should be, that's Kauri Court’s tagline,” Neil says.
“We’re family run and operated and great hospitality is what we're all about."
Providing great service needs time and presence to deliver, so Neil and Amber are hands-on owner-managers; greeting guests, keeping standards high, and making sure people feel genuinely looked after rather than just checked in.
Neil says they pride themselves on taking extra time to ‘check in’ with people before they arrive, making sure they have what they need to ensure their stay is a positive experience.
None of that would be possible, though, if the operational side of running the motel was eating up the day.
The Seekom advantage
When Neil and Amber took ownership, Kauri Court Motel & Apartments was spread across three separate systems. They made an early call to switch to Seekom property management software – a decision made easy, thanks to the knowledge some members of Amber's family who own holiday parks around New Zealand and have long relied on Seekom to run them.
"Amber's family has a few holiday parks around New Zealand and they all use Seekom, so she knew how good it was," Neil says.
Now, bookings made through the motel's own website feed directly into Seekom, which updates room availability in real time across every listing channel Kauri Court uses – including overseas travel agents (OTAs). Double bookings can be a problem for operators on systems, Neil says, but with Seekom they simply don’t happen. SeekomPay takes care of payments. The admin that once required juggling multiple platforms now runs seamlessly.
"When I talk to other accommodation providers about the alternative systems they use, I'm both mystified and surprised at all the steps they have to go through. Seekom just makes it easy for us."
With the friction of accommodation management removed, Neil and Amber can give their attention to guests and the welcome that has earned Kauri Court Motel & Apartments such great guest reviews.
The motel offers something relatively rare in Palmerston North: genuine variety under one roof. Its 16 rooms span 12 executive studios and four multi-room modern apartments with inter-connecting options, making it well suited to visitors in town for events or special occasions, large family groups, sports teams, and business travellers alike.
The motel sits five minutes’ walk from the Esplanade and Manawatū River and 15 minutes’ walk from the CBD, including George Street and Broadway, two of Palmerston North's most popular dining and café strips – places Neil and Amber are happy to make personalised recommendations on.
In a city with as many accommodation choices as Palmerston North, Kauri Court's combination of personal service and room variety gives it a strong foundation. The right systems quietly reinforce that – handling the bookings, the payments, and the channel management so Neil and Amber can stay focused on what they enjoy most.
"We're people people. It fills our bucket to see returning guests to Manawatū, Seekom is key to our success".
Note: Something you may not know is that we also build websites. Many of our customers have Seekom-built, self managed websites with full control, backed by our expert setup and support. If you’re interested in finding out more, please get in touch.
Contact Us
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Your Google Business Profile Is Free Marketing: Here’s the 15-Minute Audit Most Operators Skip.
If you set up your Google Business Profile when you first opened and haven’t touched it since, you’re not alone. Most accommodation operators do exactly that. Here’s why that’s costing you bookings, and what you can fix in 15 minutes.
Your Google Business Profile isn’t just a digital business card. It’s one of the first things a potential guest sees when they search for accommodation in your area. It feeds directly into Google Maps, Google Search, and increasingly, AI-powered search tools like Google’s AI Overviews. If it’s incomplete, outdated, or thin on detail, you’re handing traffic straight to the online travel agencies (OTAs).
The good news? A proper audit takes about 15 minutes, it’s free, and the improvements you make can start showing results within days. Here’s where to look.
1. Claim and Verify Your Listing (If You Haven’t Already)
Before anything else, is your listing actually claimed and verified by you?
It sounds obvious, but plenty of properties are running on auto-generated Google listings that no one has verified. That means you can’t edit the content, respond to reviews, or add photos. Google has likely created a basic listing for you based on public data. It exists. You just don’t control it.
Go to business.google.com and search for your property. If it shows as “unclaimed”, claim it. The verification process usually involves a phone call, email, or short video recording, and it’s the most important step in this whole list.
2. Check Your Business Name, Category, and Description
These three things matter more than most operators realise.
Business name: Use your actual trading name, nothing more. Don’t stuff keywords in here (e.g. “Sunny Bay Motel Best Motel in Tauranga”). Google will penalise you for it.
Primary category: This one has a big impact on which searches you appear in. “Motel” and “Holiday Park” are both valid primary categories in Google. Make sure yours matches what you actually are. You can also add secondary categories, for example if you have a restaurant, playground, or self-contained cabins.
Business description: You get 750 characters. Use them. Write naturally about what makes your property stand out, including location, family-friendliness, pet policy, and what’s nearby. This is what guests read when they’re comparing options, so make it count. If your description is blank or one sentence long, fix it today.
3. Confirm Your Contact Details and Location Are Correct
Simple, but surprisingly often wrong, especially if you’ve changed your phone number, email address, or website URL at any point. Check:
- Phone number (and that it’s your direct line, not a third-party booking service)
- Website URL (does it actually load, or does it show an error?)
- Physical address and map pin (drag the pin to the exact entrance if it’s sitting in the wrong spot)
If you’ve got a direct booking engine on your site, make sure your website URL links there, or at minimum links to a page where guests can book without hitting an OTA first.
4. Review Your Opening Hours, Including Special Hours
Incorrect hours are one of the most common Google Business Profile problems. If your front desk runs reduced hours over Christmas or Easter and you haven't updated your profile, Google may show your property as closed when a guest checks online. They don't call to confirm. They just book somewhere else.
Update your regular hours, public holiday hours, and any seasonal closures or restricted periods. Google allows you to set “special hours” for specific dates well in advance. It takes five minutes and can prevent a lot of lost bookings over Easter, Christmas, and other public holidays.
5. Add (and Regularly Update) Photos
This is where most operators underinvest, and it’s one of the highest-impact things you can do. Google recommends at least three photos per room type for accommodation properties. In reality, the more quality photos you have, the better.
At a minimum, make sure you have:
- A cover photo showing your property at its best (exterior, ideally on a nice day)
- Interior shots of your rooms, clean, well-lit, and true to life
- Photos of amenities: pool, BBQ area, playground, communal kitchen, spa, etc.
- A shot of the surrounding area or view if it’s a selling point
Update your photos at least once a year, or whenever you’ve made improvements to the property.
6. Fill In Your Attributes
Attributes are the little tick-boxes that appear in your listing, things like “pet-friendly”, “free Wi-Fi”, “on-site parking”, “accessible rooms”, “EV charging”, and so on. Most operators fill in a handful when they first set up the listing and never revisit them.
Go back and check that everything is accurate and up to date. If you have Qualmark accreditation or other environmental credentials, add them to the sustainability section too.
7. Answer the Questions in Your Q&A Section
The Questions & Answers section lets anyone ask a question about your property, and anyone can answer it, not just you. That means guests, competitors, or random strangers may have already written answers on your behalf. Some of those answers might be wrong.
Check what’s been asked and whether the answers are accurate. Then proactively add the questions guests always ask anyway:
- “Do you have a swimming pool?”
- “Is there parking for boats/trailers/campervans?”
- “Are pets allowed?”
- “What time is check-in and check-out?”
Answering these yourself means you control the information, and it saves your team from fielding the same questions over the phone ten times a week.
8. Check Your Reviews and Respond to All of Them
Your star rating and review count directly influence how high your listing appears in search results. Guests also read your reviews before booking, and they pay particular attention to how you respond to negative ones.
Have you responded to every review, positive and negative? If not, start now. Even a brief, warm response to a positive review shows you’re engaged.
For negative reviews, respond calmly and constructively. Acknowledge the issue, explain what you’ve done, and invite them to reach out directly. Never get defensive in public. And if you’re not actively asking guests to leave reviews, start. A simple follow-up message at checkout can meaningfully increase your review volume over time.
9. Post Updates Regularly
Google Posts let you share news, offers, and updates directly on your listing. Most accommodation operators either don’t know this feature exists or set it up once and forgot about it. You don’t need to post every day, but a couple of posts a month keeps your listing looking active. Ideas include:
- Seasonal promotions or packages
- Local events coming up nearby
- New amenities or upgrades you’ve made
- Reminders about school holiday availability
- Direct booking offers (“Book direct and get free late checkout”)
Posts don’t stay visible for long, so make it a regular habit rather than a one-off. Add it to your fortnightly task list.
10. Check Your Performance
Once you’ve worked through the above, take a few minutes to look at your Google Business Profile Performance (previously called Insights). You’ll find this by going to your Business Profile and clicking Performance. It shows you how many people viewed your listing, what search terms they used, how many clicked through to your website, and how many requested directions or called you. It gives you a baseline to track improvement against and a clear signal for where to focus your energy next.
Do this now
If you do nothing else today, start here:
- Confirm your listing is claimed and your contact details are correct.
- Add or replace at least five photos with fresh, high-quality images.
- Respond to any reviews that are sitting without a reply.
That alone will put you ahead of the majority of properties in your area. The rest can follow over the next few weeks.
Your Google Business Profile is either working for you or against you every single day. Fifteen minutes of attention now can mean more direct bookings, better visibility in AI search, and a stronger first impression for every guest who searches for a place to stay near you.
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Your Winter Security Checklist: Small Steps That Make a Big Difference
Winter is a good time to take stock. The team gets a breather, and there's finally a moment to look after the things that often get pushed to the back of the queue. Security is usually one of those things.
It doesn't have to be complicated. A few simple habits go a long way towards keeping your property and your guests safe online. So here's a quick checklist. Run through it with your team and you'll be in good shape going into the busy season.
This is the one most properties skip, and it's probably the most important. Had a staff member leave in the last six months? A seasonal worker who came and went? Log into your Seekom account and check who still has access. Old accounts that are no longer in use are an open door, and one that's easy to close.
While you're there, make sure every team member has their own individual login. Shared logins might feel convenient, but they make it impossible to know who did what, and they're much harder to secure.
If you haven't already enabled Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on your Seekom account, winter is the perfect time to sort it out. 2FA means that even if someone gets hold of a team member's password, they still can't get in without a second verification step. It's one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to protect your account, and it takes about five minutes to set up.
Our support team is happy to walk you through it. Just give us a call or drop us a message during business hours.
We know, we know. It's easier to just tell the new person the password. But shared passwords are one of the most common ways accounts get compromised.
The good news is there's no reason to share passwords in Seekom. Every account can have unlimited individual users, so everyone gets their own login with their own access level. Set it up once and you'll never need to share a password again.
Removing old user accounts is step one. But if a former team member knew your passwords, changing the locks matters too. Go through your key systems - your PMS, email accounts, OTA extranets, social media, and update any passwords that might have been shared with someone who’s no longer with you.
While you're at it, make sure passwords aren't being reused across different platforms. If one account gets compromised and the password is the same everywhere, the damage spreads fast. A password manager can take the headache out of keeping track of them all.
Your email account is the key to the kingdom. If someone gets into it, they can reset passwords for pretty much everything else. Yet email is often the last thing people think to protect.
A few quick wins:
- Enable two-factor authentication on your business email account, not just your PMS
- Check who has access to shared inboxes like info@ or reservations@ and remove anyone who no longer needs it
- Be careful about what you include in automated guest emails. Avoid putting full booking reference numbers or personal details in subject lines where they can be easily read
- If you get an email that looks like it's from a supplier or OTA asking you to update payment details or click a link, call them directly to verify before doing anything
Phishing is when someone sends you an email pretending to be a trusted source, trying to get you to hand over your login details or click a dodgy link. It happens more than you'd think in the accommodation industry.
The recent Booking.com breach is a good example of how this plays out. Once scammers had real guest data, including booking details and contact information, they used it to send convincing messages that looked like they came from a legitimate source. Guests were contacted via WhatsApp and email and asked to verify their payment details.
A few things to remind your team:
- Seekom will never ask for your password by email or phone
- If an email asks you to click a link and log in, go directly to the website instead of clicking
- When in doubt, call the company directly using a number you already know
- If something feels off, it probably is. Trust your gut and check with us
Take a look at your booking form and ask yourself: do we actually need all of this? A lot of properties collect more than they need. Dates of birth, passport numbers, dietary requirements for a property that doesn't serve meals. The less guest data you hold, the less there is to lose if something goes wrong.
Strip your forms back to what you genuinely use. It's better for your guests, better for your liability, and it makes your life simpler too.
If you're taking online payments, it's worth checking that 3D Secure (3DS) authentication is active on your SeekomPay setup. It adds a bank-level verification step for cardholders, which reduces fraud and protects your revenue from chargebacks.
Not sure if you have it switched on? Drop our support team a message and they'll check for you.
Start with whatever feels most overdue for your property. Even ticking off one or two things from this list will put you in a stronger position than you were yesterday. And if you need a hand with any of it, our support team is here. Give us a call or flick us a message and we’ll help you get sorted.
Note: Something you may not know is that we also build websites. Many of our customers have Seekom-built, self managed websites with full control, backed by our expert setup and support. If you’re interested in finding out more, please get in touch.
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