How independent and branded hotels win the search results, reduce their dependence on the OTAs, and turn online visibility into direct bookings.
You earned the guest. Don't pay a middleman for it. The plain-English companion for hoteliers, GMs, and marketers who are done nodding along to agency jargon — written by a hotel-industry veteran, not an SEO tourist.
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Most hotels bankroll a “marketing” budget that never touches the one channel that wins back the bookings the OTAs quietly intercept.
Hotel SEO is how you take them back — and it works nothing like the SEO sold to everyone else. Written by a hotel-industry veteran with nearly two decades in sales and marketing, this is the plain-English companion for hoteliers, GMs, and marketers who are done nodding along to agency jargon they were never taught.
It is a reference, not a novel. Built to sit on your desk and open to the chapter you need, on the day you need it — from the four pillars of hotel search to a 12-month roadmap and an honest verdict on whether to do it yourself or hire a pro.
Twenty-five chapters that move from how travelers really search to the exact systems that turn that search into rooms booked on your own site.
The hotel search ecosystem mapped end to end: the map pack, the Google hotel panel, metasearch, and the new AI answer layer — and the exact moments a booking slips to an OTA.
Architecture, Core Web Vitals, schema for hotels, keyword research, on-page work, Google Business Profile, citations, reviews, and links — tied back to bookings, not vanity metrics.
How metasearch and Google Hotel Ads actually work, how to manage the OTA relationship on your terms, and how to read analytics and attribution honestly.
The AI shift (AEO & GEO), a full hotel SEO audit framework, a month-by-month plan, and a straight answer on when to build in-house versus bring in help.
You don't have to read it in order. Open to the part you need — owners and GMs, in-house marketers, and skeptics each have their own way in.
Plus “Why It Matters” and “Field Note” boxes throughout — the reasoning behind each move, and the practical observations that save you a week of trial and error.
If you want to understand what your budget is really purchasing, start with the foundations and the honest DIY-or-hire chapter. No jargon, no hand-waving.
Handed the website and told to fix it? The technical, content, local, and metasearch chapters are a step-by-step manual you can work straight through.
Good. The book is written to earn trust by showing the mechanics honestly — every recommendation comes with the reasoning behind it.
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