Research · Hotels
Which hotel brands' websites turn automated visitors away? 2,280 hotel pages tested
By Cloute · Published October 2, 2026
The short answer
Cloute requested 2,280 hotel pages in 58 US metros in October 2026 as a plain automated visitor. 63.9% could not be read. The split is by who hosts the page: 76.8% of pages on a hotel brand's website could not be read, against 13% of hotels on their own website. None of the Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt and Best Western property pages could be read. Every IHG, WoodSpring Suites, InTown Suites and Sonesta page could. We did not pretend to be an AI crawler, so this is how the sites treat automated clients in general.
of 1,820 hotel pages on a brand website could not be read
of 460 hotels on their own website
overall
By brand
| Brand website | Property pages tested | Blocked or challenged | No answer in 10 seconds | Could not be read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hilton | 596 | 52.7% | 47.3% | 100% |
| Marriott | 423 | 100% | 0% | 100% |
| Hyatt | 158 | 100% | 0% | 100% |
| Best Western | 38 | 100% | 0% | 100% |
| Extended Stay America | 215 | 85.1% | 0% | 85.1% |
| IHG | 226 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| WoodSpring Suites | 34 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| InTown Suites | 23 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Sonesta | 22 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
What it means
- Whether a hotel's page can be read by an automated visitor is decided almost entirely by the brand whose website hosts it. The property has no say.
- Hotels on their own website were far easier to reach: 13% could not be read.
- This is not proof that AI engines are turned away. A brand can let verified AI crawlers through and still refuse every other automated client. It is a reason for an owner to ask.
- When an engine does not read the hotel's own page, it answers from booking sites and review sites.
Across 64,441 AI answers about local businesses, engines named a business 84% of the time when they had opened one of its own pages while answering, and 16% when they had not.
How this was measured
Each hotel's own page, as linked from its Google Maps listing, was requested once in October 2026, identifying as an ordinary web browser, without running JavaScript, from one network location. A page counts as not read if the answer was an HTTP 403 or 429, a bot-challenge page, or no answer within 10 seconds. We never sent a request pretending to be an AI crawler, so these figures describe how a site treats automated clients in general. A brand can let verified AI crawlers through while refusing other automated clients.
Read next
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Can AI read hotel brand websites?
It depends on the brand and on the client. In our test 76.8% of hotel pages on a brand website could not be read by a plain automated request. We did not test as an AI crawler, and a brand can treat verified AI crawlers differently.
Are independent hotel websites easier for automated visitors to read?
Yes, in this sample. 13% of hotels on their own website could not be read, against 76.8% of pages on a brand website.
Can I use this data?
Yes. It is free to cite with a link, and the underlying data is open under CC BY 4.0 in Cloute's GitHub repository.
How to cite this research
Cloute (October 2026). Hotel websites and AI by brand: 2,280 hotel pages tested. https://cloute.ai/research/hotel-websites-by-brand
The underlying data is open under CC BY 4.0: github.com/luked9/cloute-ai-visibility-research.
About Cloute. Cloute is an AI visibility company for local businesses. It measures how often ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews recommend a business against its local competitors, and works every month to move it to the top.