Practical AI Guide
AI Competitor Research System for Hotels
How to analyse your comp set in minutes, not hours
5
Steps
60 – 90
Minutes
6–8
Hours saved
The Reality
Most hotels are still guessing
Or they've got someone on the team spending hours pulling together comp set analysis the old way.
What that looks like
- Checking competitor websites manually
- Scrolling social media for hours
- Piecing together data from different sources
- Making decisions on incomplete information
What you'll walk away with
- A clear list of your real competitors
- Their social media performance
- Insight into who's actually winning
- A faster way to make better decisions
The point
This guide shows you exactly how to do the same work in 60–90 minutes using AI. Not by cutting corners. By working smarter.
1
The System
The 5-Step AI Research System
A structured approach that takes you from a blank page to actionable insight.
1
Build your competitor list — a clean, structured starting point
2
Refine your comp set — filter for commercial relevance
3
Find social accounts — official channels only
4
Extract performance data — follower counts, activity levels
5
Turn data into insight — understand what it actually means
Manual approach
6 – 8
hours
With this system
60 – 90
minutes
2
1
Step One
Build Your Hotel List
Most people start with Google and end up with a messy, irrelevant list. This gives you a clean, structured starting point from the off.
Copy + paste prompt
Act as a hospitality industry analyst.
Build a comprehensive list of all 4 and 5 star hotels in [your area].
Include:
- Hotel name
- Location (town)
- Star rating
- Type (hotel, resort, spa)
Exclude:
- B&Bs
- Self-catering
- Campsites
Return as a clean table.
Why this matters
Your research is only as good as your starting list. Get this right and everything downstream is faster and more reliable.
3
2
Step Two
Refine Your Comp Set
This is the step most people skip. If your comp set is wrong, everything after this is unreliable.
Copy + paste prompt
From this list, refine it into a commercially relevant competitive set.
Prioritise:
- Similar positioning
- Leisure, spa or coastal properties
- Strong guest experience focus
Remove:
- Budget properties
- Weak or unclear brands
Return a shortlist of 20–30 hotels.
The real risk
Benchmarking yourself against the wrong hotels is worse than not benchmarking at all. You'll make decisions based on data that doesn't apply to your position in the market.
4
3
Step Three
Find Social Accounts
Official channels only. You're looking for the accounts hotels actually run, not fan pages or outdated profiles.
Copy + paste prompt
For each hotel, find the official Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Rules:
- Only official accounts
- Prioritise website-linked pages
- Ignore duplicates
Return:
- Hotel name
- Instagram link
- Facebook link
Tip: if results look messy
Refine with: "Only return verified or clearly official accounts" — this tightens the output and removes the noise.
5
4
Step Four
Extract Social Data
Time to get the numbers. You want follower counts, page likes, and a read on how active each competitor actually is.
Copy + paste prompt
Find the Instagram and Facebook stats for each hotel.
Include:
- Instagram follower count
- Facebook page likes
- Facebook followers (if different)
Also include:
- Activity level (high / medium / low)
- Key observations
Return as a table.
What to look for
- Who has the largest audience in your market
- Who is posting consistently vs. sporadically
- Who looks inactive, outdated, or abandoned
6
5
Step Five
Turn Data into Insight
Most people stop at data. The real advantage comes from understanding what it means and what to do about it.
Copy + paste prompt
Analyse this data and identify:
- Top performing hotels
- Mid-tier performers
- Underperformers
Highlight:
- Platform trends (Instagram vs Facebook)
- What high performers are doing well
- Gaps or missed opportunities
This is where the value is
Data is just numbers until you apply judgement. This step turns a spreadsheet into a competitive advantage.
7
From Insight to Action
What this actually tells you
You can now clearly see the landscape. Here's what that means for your hotel.
What you now know
- Who dominates your market
- What content actually works
- Where competitors are weak
- How to position your hotel
Example opportunities
Improve consistency on social
Introduce video where competitors don't
Strengthen visual branding
Add more personality to content
8
Why This Matters
This isn't just interesting data
It directly impacts the things that matter to your business.
Revenue
Better positioning leads to higher conversion. Know where you stand and price accordingly.
Time
Save hours of manual research every time you need to review your competitive position.
Marketing
Focus your marketing budget on what's actually working, not what you think might work.
Decisions
No more guessing. Make strategic calls based on real data about your real market.
9
Work With Me
Want help applying this to your hotel?
Most hotels don't need more ideas. They need a clear plan and someone to implement it. This is the process I use.
1
Assess
→where time is being lost
→where revenue is being missed
→where revenue is being missed
2
Identify Opportunities
→guest communication
→marketing, admin and workflows
→marketing, admin and workflows
3
Build Your AI Plan
→what to implement and prioritise
→what tools to use
→what tools to use
4
Implement & Train
→set up workflows, train your team
→ensure it actually works
→ensure it actually works
5
Optimise
→refine based on results
→not guesswork
→not guesswork
What this delivers
- Save your team hours every week
- Improve the guest experience
- Increase bookings
Book a 1:1 AI Brainstorm Session
No jargon. No pressure. Quick wins, time savings, practical AI ideas. Clear and useful.