Nicolas Sitter
AGENTIC|

What AI searches when asked for hotels in Barcelona

Before answering a hotel question with web search, an AI assistant rewrites it into one or more searches. These are the searches it actually ran for 20 traveller prompts about Barcelona, captured week after week, not autocomplete suggestions.

ChatGPT
400
answers, 1.4 searches each, Jan 2026 to Nov 2026
Grok
342
answers, 5.6 searches each, Jan 2026 to Apr 2026
Gemini
99
answers, 2.2 searches each, Jan 2026 to Feb 2026

Explore by prompt

Percentages are shares of answers. Grok and Gemini were captured on an earlier prompt set, so most current prompts only have ChatGPT.

Best hotels
Luxury
Budget
Families
Couples
Business
Solo
Amenity
Neighbourhood or landmark
Older prompts
Prompt
“best hotels in Barcelona”
Answers captured
19
Searches per answer
1.5
Searched the prompt as written
26%
Captured
4 May 2026 to 2 Nov 2026

The searches ChatGPT ran

Most frequent first. “×3” means the same search appeared in three separate answers.

  1. best hotels Barcelona×3
  2. best luxury hotels×2
  3. best hotels in Barcelona Spain luxury boutique neighborhoods 2026×2
  4. best hotels in Barcelona×2
  5. top rated hotels×1
  6. best boutique hotels×1
  7. best hotels in Barcelona Spain neighborhoods luxury boutique Eixample Gothic Quarter 2026×1
  8. official website Mandarin Oriental Barcelona Serras Barcelona Mercer Hotel Barcelona Hotel Arts Barcelona Barcelona hotel Casa Bonay official×1
  9. best hotels in Barcelona luxury boutique×1
  10. best hotels Barcelona 2026 luxury boutique hotels×1
  11. best hotels Barcelona 2026 luxury Michelin design Gothic Quarter Eixample×1
  12. best hotels Barcelona Spain luxury Eixample Gothic Quarter Mandarin Oriental W Barcelona Hotel Arts×1
  13. best hotels Barcelona recommendations×1
  14. best hotels Barcelona luxury boutique hotels Barcelona top hotels Barcelona 2026×1
  15. best hotels in Barcelona luxury hotels Barcelona 5 star hotels Barcelona best places to stay Barcelona×1

Showing 15 of 23 distinct searches.

Words it added to the prompt

luxury58%boutique37%202632%spain32%arts16%eixample16%gothic16%mandarin16%neighborhoods16%oriental16%quarter16%top16%bonay11%casa11%official11%rated11%recommendations11%w11%website11%20255%

Places and names it added

Arts11%Casa Bonay11%

Hotel topics in what it added

All Barcelona prompts together

Share of answers whose searches added each topic, counting only words that were not already in the prompt.

What a Barcelona hotel page can cover

The topics ChatGPT adds most often here, with what a page can do about each. These are editorial suggestions drawn from the searches, not a measured ranking effect.

  1. Best / top22% of answers

    The engine is looking for lists. Being on the editorial and booking-site lists matters as much as your own page.

  2. Hotel class or style16% of answers

    State your class and style plainly (five-star, boutique, historic) in text and in schema.

  3. A year14% of answers

    Say what is current: this year’s renovations, prices and openings, with dates on the page.

  4. Neighbourhood and location10% of answers

    Name your neighbourhood and what is walkable from it, in words, not only on a map.

  5. Country name10% of answers

    Write the city and country together at least once. Engines disambiguate with the country.

Which hotels get named? The answers behind these searches are tracked in the AI Hotel Landscape for Barcelona.

How the searches were captured and cleaned, and what is left out: method and limits. ChatGPT data runs to Nov 2026.