Nicolas Sitter
AGENTIC|

What AI searches when asked for hotels in Istanbul

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 Istanbul, captured week after week, not autocomplete suggestions.

ChatGPT
377
answers, 1.3 searches each, Jan 2026 to Nov 2026
Grok
351
answers, 5.8 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 Istanbul”
Answers captured
15
Searches per answer
1.1
Searched the prompt as written
13%
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 in Istanbul×2
  2. best hotels in Istanbul 2026 neighborhoods luxury boutique Sultanahmet Bosphorus×1
  3. best hotels in Istanbul Turkey luxury boutique Bosphorus views 2026×1
  4. best hotels in Istanbul 2026 luxury boutique Sultanahmet Bosphorus travel reviews×1
  5. best hotels in Istanbul luxury Four Seasons Pera Palace Ciragan St Regis Mandarin Oriental×1
  6. best hotels Istanbul luxury 2026 Four Seasons Ciragan Peninsula Sultanahmet×1
  7. best hotels in Istanbul luxury boutique hotels×1
  8. best hotels in Istanbul 2026×1
  9. best hotels Istanbul luxury Sultanahmet Bosphorus 2026×1
  10. best hotels Istanbul luxury neighborhoods×1
  11. best hotels Istanbul luxury×1
  12. best hotels Istanbul neighborhoods luxury×1
  13. best hotels Istanbul luxury hotel awards Istanbul×1
  14. best hotels Istanbul luxury hotels Istanbul×1
  15. best luxury hotels Istanbul×1

Words it added to the prompt

luxury87%202640%bosphorus27%boutique27%sultanahmet27%neighborhoods20%ciragan13%four13%seasons13%awards7%mandarin7%oriental7%palace7%peninsula7%pera7%regis7%reviews7%st7%travel7%turkey7%

Places and names it added

Sultanahmet Bosphorus20%

Hotel topics in what it added

All Istanbul prompts together

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

What a Istanbul 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 style22% of answers

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

  3. A year12% of answers

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

  4. Neighbourhood and location9% of answers

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

  5. Amenities and rooms8% of answers

    List amenities as text and in amenityFeature, including the obvious ones.

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

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