By the numbers
52%
MMGY Travel Intelligence, 2026
51%
Of sources cited in AI hotel recommendations were online travel agencies
Cloudbeds, 2025
87%
Of sources cited were hotel websites, against 9% for brands in other industries
Cloudbeds, 2025
52% of UK travellers now use AI to plan trips.
When a guest wants a dog-friendly cottage in Cornwall with a hot tub, a family house in the Cotswolds, or a quiet cabin in the Lake District, they can describe it to ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews and get a short list without opening ten websites. The properties missing from that answer are not considered by that guest.
Most SEO and GEO tools only address the technical layer: schema, crawlability, metadata. Xyra Foundry goes further, auditing the UX layer and the content strategy layer that most operators overlook entirely. These are the layers where guests make their decision.
The properties that appear in that answer are the ones AI can match to the guest's requirements and confirm with confidence. If your property's features, location and booking route are not structured for retrieval, AI has little to recommend. A guest who books direct can be invited back, so a missed shortlist can cost the repeat bookings as well as the first one.
What we found scanning UK holiday-let businesses
We ran structured AI visibility checks on 188 UK holiday-let businesses, testing how each appeared across five prompt types on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
90%
Missing from general searches
Not appearing when a guest asks AI a general question about where to stay in their area.
95%
Missing when guests describe what they want
Not appearing when the question names features such as pets, a hot tub or a quiet setting. Guests who search by need are not shown these properties.
Scans conducted across UK holiday-let businesses in regions including Cornwall, Devon, the Cotswolds, the Lake District, Norfolk and Suffolk. Prompt types tested: unbranded holiday-let search, feature-specific query, comparison query, direct-booking query, branded query. Operator figures exclude curators and marketplaces, which were tested with a different prompt set.
What we see across UK holiday-let businesses
These are the patterns we see most often. None of them require a website rebuild.
All of them have a fix.
1
AI finds your property by name more readily than by need
When the question named the property or asked about booking direct, 56% of operators appeared in full and a further 38% in part. When the question was a general one about where to stay, 90% of the businesses we scanned were missing. AI can verify a property it has been asked about and rarely volunteers one to a guest who has not heard of it.
2
Guest requirements are rarely matched to your property
When the question described what the guest wanted, such as pets, a hot tub or a quiet setting, 95% of operators were missing. AI matches requirements to properties before the guest visits a single site. Features that appear only in images or unstructured descriptions can give it little to match against.
3
Your direct booking route is not always the one AI confirms
In two of our scans, AI confirmed a property from its reviews on a booking platform while the direct booking route was less explicit. If the clearest evidence sits on a platform, the guest may finish the booking there.
4
Your highest-intent visitors arrive to a page that doesn't confirm the fit
A guest who has narrowed their search through AI arrives ready to check details. If the page doesn't confirm availability, price, pet policy and cancellation terms, the guest has a reason to go back to a platform that does.
What Makes Xyra Different
An AI Readiness and Buyer Journey Audit
Most GEO tools tell you whether AI can find your website. Xyra assesses and benchmarks whether AI can find you, understand you, recommend you, and convert the buyers it sends your way.
SEO and GEO tools tell you whether your schema is correct. They do not tell you whether your content structure, your UX, or your decision journey is built for the guest who just arrived from an AI recommendation.
Three ways to work with us
Start where you need to. Most businesses begin with Diagnose to understand where they stand, then move to Fix once priorities are clear.
All engagements start from £699.
Tier 1 - Diagnose
AI visibility score across 30 items. Top issues identified and ranked. Clear view of where you stand vs competitors. Delivered as a structured report.
Tier 2 - Understand
Full annotated audit across all four pillars. Specific UX and content recommendations. Conversion friction analysis. Prioritised by revenue impact.
Tier 3 - Fix
Everything in Understand. 90-day prioritised roadmap. Backlog ready for your team to action. Optional implementation support.
Exact scope and tier confirmed at point of enquiry.
Frequently asked questions
1
Why isn't my holiday let appearing when guests ask AI where to stay?
The most common reason is that your property's features, location and availability are not structured in a way large language models can extract and match to a guest's request. AI systems do not read websites the way guests do. They look for content that directly states what the property offers, where it is, who it suits and how to book, supported by evidence they can verify. When a guest asks a general question about where to stay, 90% of the businesses we scanned did not appear at all. If those details sit only in images or long descriptive prose, AI has little to match against and recommends a property it can.
2
How is this different from SEO?
SEO optimises your website to rank in traditional search results. Generative engine optimisation, GEO, optimises your content and structure to be retrieved, cited and recommended by AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. For holiday lets the distinction matters because AI-referred guests behave differently: they arrive having already described what they want and been given a short list. Ranking on Google does not guarantee AI will match your property to that request, or mention it at all.
3
What does it take for AI to match my property to what a guest asks for?
Three things have to work together. Your features, location and booking route must be structured so AI can extract specific evidence rather than guessing from images or prose. Your property must be described consistently across your site, so AI can confirm what it offers and who it suits. And the page a guest lands on has to finish the decision by confirming availability, price, pet policy and cancellation terms, or the guest goes back to a booking platform that does. Most operators address none of these consistently. An AI Readiness UX Audit identifies where the gaps are and what to fix first.
4
Do you only work with holiday lets?
No. Holiday lets are one of several high-consideration sectors we audit, alongside finance firms, SaaS and B2B software companies, law firms, aesthetic clinics and cosmetic surgery, and home care providers. Each sector page reflects the specific prompts, competitors and trust signals buyers use in that category.