What do travellers search before booking a hotel?

Searches describe the trip

Ask an AI assistant this question and you get a list of what travellers check: price, location, reviews, amenities, cancellation policy. ChatGPT’s answer leads with price and suggests example searches such as “cheap hotels in [destination]”.

That isn’t what we saw when we looked at real suggestions. We typed 12 open-ended stay searches into Google, such as “where to stay in langkawi”, “maldives resort” and “best hotels in queenstown”, and kept the 53 searches Google and YouTube suggested.

What the search adds	Suggestions	Examples
Who is travelling	19 of 53	”where to stay in maldives with kids”, “best hotel in langkawi for honeymoon”, “where to stay in tokyo first time”
Proof from other travellers	13	”where to stay in queenstown reddit”, “is maldives worth it”, “langkawi resort review”
One feature	9	”maldives resort with water slide”, “langkawi resorts with private pool”, “queenstown hotels with lake view”
An area	3	”best hotel in langkawi pantai cenang”, “where to stay in maldives - which island is best”
Price	2	”best budget hotels in langkawi”, “where to stay in tokyo on a budget”
Just the place	8	”best hotels in queenstown new zealand”

Some suggestions fit two groups, such as “is maldives worth it for honeymoon”.

Three things stand out:

• Who comes first. Families, couples, honeymooners and first-time visitors search for themselves. “Best hotel in Langkawi” is rarely the whole question. “Best hotel in Langkawi for kids” is.
• Proof is a search of its own. Travellers add “reddit”, “review” or “worth it” to find someone who isn’t selling the room.
• Features are specific: a water slide, a private pool, a lake view, a ski base.

Price appeared in 2 of 53. That doesn’t mean travellers ignore price. Our reading is that they check price on booking sites, once search has narrowed down which hotels to consider.

Real examples by destination

Maldives: where to stay in maldives for first time · where to stay in maldives with kids · maldives resorts for couples · maldives resort with water slide · maldives resorts water villas · is maldives worth it for a week · maldives resort review

Langkawi: best hotel in langkawi for family · best hotel in langkawi for honeymoon · where to stay in langkawi for couples · langkawi resorts with private beach · langkawi resorts with private pool · where to stay in langkawi reddit

Queenstown: best hotels in queenstown city centre · best hotels in queenstown for families · where to stay in queenstown for skiing · queenstown hotels with lake view · best hotels in queenstown reddit

Tokyo: where to stay in tokyo first time · where to stay in tokyo with kids · where to stay in tokyo on a budget · where to stay in tokyo reddit

On TikTok and Instagram, the pattern is the same

Searches on social platforms follow the same shape. These are searches our clients track:

• Instagram, for a luxury Maldives resort: family surf holidays maldives · best maldives resorts kid surfing · teen surf camp maldives · private surf break maldives · surfen malediven anfänger (German: surfing in the Maldives for beginners).
• TikTok in the US, for a luxury hotel group: best hotels maldives · top luxury maldives resorts · st tropez best luxury hotel · boutique hotels south of france · luxury boutique resort.

What changes is who answers. On TikTok, it’s mostly creators: in those 15 US TikTok searches, hotels’ own accounts held 14 of the 300 top-20 results. See how to market a hotel on TikTok.

How to find your own list in an hour

1. Start with your destination. Type “[destination] hotel”, “[destination] resort”, “where to stay in [destination]” and “best hotel in [destination]” into Google, YouTube and TikTok. Note every suggestion.
2. Add “for” and “with”. Type “best hotel in [destination] for” and “[destination] resort with” to see which travellers and features come up.
3. Group what you find by who, feature, proof and area. Ignore searches that name a competitor.
4. Mark the ones you can answer. If you have a kids’ club, “where to stay in [destination] with kids” is yours to win. If you don’t, leave it.
5. Search each one and note who appears. This step shows where you’re missing.

What this means for your content

Each search is a brief. “Where to stay in Langkawi with kids” asks for a video that shows the pool, the kids’ club and the walk to the beach, from a parent’s point of view. “Is the Maldives worth it for a week” asks for an honest, costed answer. A brand film answers neither.

That’s the core of using social media to get more bookings: make the answer to the searches your guests already make, then check that you show up.