What is the biggest weakness of hotel / resort websites?

The biggest weakness for hotel / resort websites is AEO, with an average score of just 13 out of 100. This means most sites in this vertical have significant room for improvement in this area.

Hotel / Resort Website Audit Report - AISO Studio

Overview

The hotel / resort industry faces a clear challenge online. Most websites in this space score well below what search engines and AI systems need to surface content. The average AISO score across all 93 sites is just 47 out of 100. That is a low bar. It also means there is a big opportunity for businesses that invest in their web presence now.

The strongest area for hotel / resort sites is SEO, with an average of 75. The weakest area is AEO, at just 13. According to Google's SEO documentation, sites that fail to meet basic technical standards risk losing visibility in both traditional and AI-powered search results.

What does this mean for your business? If your site scores above 47, you are already ahead of most competitors. If it scores below, you risk losing traffic to rivals who fix these issues first. According to the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, accessible websites also reach a wider audience and reduce legal risk.

Key insight: 62% of hotel / resort websites score below 50. The majority of sites in this vertical are underperforming across multiple dimensions.

Key Findings

62%

Score Below 50

More than half of sites in this vertical are underperforming.

38%

Missing Schema Markup

These sites have no structured data, making them harder for search engines and AI to understand.

17%

No Open Graph Tags

Without OG tags, shared links on social media appear without rich previews.

What This Means

These findings tell a simple story. Most hotel / resort websites were built without modern optimization in mind. They load, they look fine, but they fail to communicate with the systems that drive traffic today.

Search engines need structured data to understand your pages. AI answer engines need clear, direct answers to cite your content. Screen readers need proper HTML to serve users with disabilities. Missing any of these means missing out on visitors, customers, and revenue.

How to Improve Your Score

Want to beat the average? Follow these steps in order. Each one builds on the last. Start with the basics and work your way up.

Step 1: Fix your technical SEO. Add a meta title, meta description, and canonical URL to every page. Add schema markup using JSON-LD. Add Open Graph tags so your links look good when shared. These changes take less than an hour and have an immediate impact.
Step 2: Improve readability. Rewrite your main pages at an 8th grade reading level. Use short sentences. Use simple words. Break up long paragraphs. According to Google, clear and simple content performs better in search results.
Step 3: Add engagement elements. Use headings, bullet lists, bold text, and blockquotes. Add images with descriptive alt text. Make your content easy to scan. Visitors decide within seconds whether to stay or leave.
Step 4: Optimize for AI engines. Add a FAQ section to your key pages. Use direct answer formats. Define what your business does in one clear sentence at the top of your homepage. AI systems like ChatGPT and Perplexity prefer content that gives a straight answer.
Step 5: Check accessibility. Run a WCAG audit. Ensure all images have alt text. Check that color contrast meets minimum ratios. Use semantic HTML elements like headings, lists, and landmarks. According to the W3C, over one billion people worldwide live with some form of disability.

Full Results

The table below lists all 93 websites ranked by their overall AISO score. Each row shows the total score, letter grade, and individual dimension scores. Use it to see how sites in the hotel / resort space compare against each other.

Domains are partially blurred to protect privacy. Scores range from 0 to 100. Higher is better.

#	Domain	Score	Grade	SEO	Read.	Eng.	AEO	WCAG
1	wyomi*********	65	C	92	61	70	10	100
2	alas******	63	C	89	48	90	25	65
3	newengland******************	63	C	97	42	65	25	98
4	illinois**************	63	C	84	64	85	10	75
5	price********	63	C	95	56	65	38	63
6	glades**********	62	C	89	51	85	10	81
7	thehot**********	61	C	89	45	80	18	83
8	capitolhi**************	61	C	97	51	63	10	95
9	castle***********	60	C	94	46	70	18	81
10	ihg****	59	D	82	53	75	30	57
11	all.a********	59	D	94	38	80	38	45
12	thebism*************	58	D	82	60	58	10	88
13	thefont*************	57	D	77	51	65	10	91
14	visitf**********	56	D	72	43	80	18	75
15	hotelk**********	56	D	82	52	50	10	100
16	thehot*********	56	D	94	43	60	25	64
17	vermont************	56	D	89	40	65	18	75
18	basin********	54	D	87	43	73	10	64
19	grand*********	54	D	84	39	65	18	71
20	hrhcb*********	54	D	76	57	50	18	76
21	trave*********	53	D	82	47	65	8	65
22	thenati***********	53	D	84	30	55	18	92
23	salama**********	53	D	81	31	85	18	56
24	thehote************	52	D	89	43	65	10	55
25	cntra*********	52	D	84	19	83	36	45
26	thewisco*************	52	D	89	33	75	10	59
27	arizona************	51	D	79	48	65	10	55
28	hilt******	51	D	89	0	65	35	91
29	arlingt***********	51	D	84	49	60	10	54
30	innbyt*********	51	D	67	58	55	10	69
31	thecotto**************	51	D	84	37	65	10	68
32	green*********	51	D	94	44	65	10	41
33	wvtou********	51	D	91	44	90	18	1
34	america************	50	D	74	27	65	10	90
35	cavalie*************	50	D	82	43	45	0	90
36	slh****	49	F	75	46	73	10	38
37	mont*******	49	F	75	37	55	10	80
38	whitemou**************	49	F	81	42	55	10	59
39	hotelc***********	48	F	77	32	60	10	71
40	kentuck************	48	F	65	53	53	10	64
41	histori***********	48	F	72	29	58	10	83
42	thewater*************	48	F	79	49	55	10	48
43	hawaii**********	47	F	71	30	48	10	90
44	mrandm***********	47	F	72	40	55	20	50
45	skysc*********	47	F	97	13	60	30	43
46	visitra***********	47	F	64	40	60	18	60
47	twinf********	47	F	71	60	60	10	27
48	aspenh***********	46	F	77	19	60	10	79
49	visitd***********	46	F	57	26	60	18	80
50	thepl*********	46	F	89	26	70	10	37
51	kohlerw************	46	F	74	37	55	10	62
52	washi*********	45	F	72	36	50	20	53
53	hotell***********	45	F	72	27	35	10	100
54	visit-*********	44	F	61	52	75	18	4
55	uniquelod**************	44	F	74	42	75	10	8
56	thekentu*************	43	F	74	29	55	10	50
57	hewing*********	43	F	84	29	73	10	17
58	elizab*********	43	F	57	6	65	20	85
59	arizonag**************	42	F	84	10	55	10	62
60	centenni*************	42	F	64	41	30	0	89
61	sone*******	42	F	82	0	75	30	28
62	elranchoh**************	42	F	69	50	50	10	24
63	visit*******	42	F	72	23	60	18	43
64	granda**********	42	F	62	23	50	10	78
65	thehotel**************	42	F	75	0	50	10	100
66	travel***********	41	F	86	18	75	10	13
67	gatli*********	41	F	67	37	50	18	30
68	travel*********	41	F	54	42	45	18	50
69	travel***********	41	F	87	0	75	18	33
70	googl********	40	F	67	28	45	8	58
71	hhan******	40	F	61	48	55	0	29
72	thetenne**************	40	F	72	37	60	10	18
73	fourse*********	40	F	79	23	68	10	18
74	atlantic**************	39	F	89	0	80	10	21
75	forbestr*************	39	F	74	34	50	18	13
76	oneandon*************	39	F	72	27	30	0	80
77	thehotel*************	39	F	59	46	55	10	20
78	crescen***********	38	F	76	12	65	10	29
79	louisiana.****************	38	F	42	46	58	18	19
80	googl********	38	F	67	25	45	8	50
81	hote*******	37	F	77	13	60	10	32
82	googl********	37	F	67	21	45	8	50
83	hotelsa*************	36	F	39	34	35	10	70
84	guide.m***********	35	F	82	0	80	10	4
85	newme********	35	F	54	23	60	18	19
86	theoreg***********	35	F	37	70	35	8	10
87	ancho********	34	F	57	24	60	10	18
88	visitsout**************	34	F	69	0	60	10	41
89	thevirgi*************	33	F	64	39	30	0	30
90	highlan***********	31	F	57	25	30	8	41
91	beaurivag****************	27	F	72	7	30	0	29
92	luxury***********	25	F	61	0	23	0	55
93	tablet**********	22	F	27	30	0	0	60

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average AISO score for hotel / resort websites?

The average AISO score for hotel / resort websites is 47 out of 100. This is based on a scan of 93 sites in the restaurant & hospitality industry. The score combines five dimensions: SEO (75), readability (34), engagement (60), AEO (13), and WCAG accessibility (55).

How do hotel / resort websites perform on accessibility?

The average WCAG score is 55 out of 100. Many hotel / resort websites still lack basic accessibility features like alt text on images, proper heading structure, and sufficient color contrast. Improving accessibility helps you reach more users and reduces legal risk.

Are hotel / resort websites ready for AI search engines?

Not yet. The average AEO score is 13 out of 100. AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview need structured data, FAQ sections, and direct answer formats to cite a website. Currently, 38% of hotel / resort sites have no schema markup at all.

What is the biggest weakness for hotel / resort websites?

The weakest dimension is AEO, with an average score of just 13. This represents the area where hotel / resort websites have the most room to grow. Focusing improvement efforts here will have the largest impact on overall scores.

How can I check my own website's score?

You can run a free audit on any website using AISO Studio. Enter your URL and get a full breakdown of your SEO, readability, engagement, AEO, and WCAG scores in under a minute. No signup required.

Methodology

We score each website across five areas. The AISO Score is a weighted mix of all five. It shows how well a site works for both people and AI systems. Here is what each area measures.

SEO checks meta tags, schema markup, headings, and other signals search engines use to crawl and index pages.
Readability looks at sentence length, word complexity, and plain language. Higher scores mean easier reading.
Engagement counts headings, lists, bold text, images, and other elements that make content easy to scan.
AEO checks if AI engines can find and cite the content. It looks for FAQ sections, direct answers, and structured data.
WCAG tests for color contrast, alt text, ARIA labels, and proper HTML. It follows the W3C accessibility guidelines.

SEO (Technical Search Optimization)

Checks meta titles, descriptions, canonical URLs, schema markup, Open Graph tags, heading structure, and other signals that help search engines crawl and index a page.

Readability

Measures the Flesch Reading Ease score, average sentence length, and word complexity. Higher scores mean the content is easier for the public to read and understand.

Engagement

Looks at content formatting: headings, lists, bold text, blockquotes, images, and other elements that make content easy to scan and read.

AEO (AI Engine Optimization)

Checks how well content is set up for AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview. Looks for direct answer formats, FAQ sections, and clear definitions.

WCAG (Accessibility)

Tests for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines compliance: color contrast, alt text, ARIA labels, semantic HTML, and keyboard navigation support.

Hotel / Resort Website Audit Report