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How UK hotels can tell if AI assistants and agents are visiting

UKUpdated By Akkrev

AI visits show up in analytics and logs if you know where: ChatGPT referral tags, AI crawler names and agent user agents like Google-Agent.

AI assistant traffic to hotel websites grew almost 200% between March and August 2026 according to Net Affinity and Smarthotel’s AI Barometer, and 287% in the UK. Most hotels can’t see it, because it doesn’t arrive labelled “AI”. Here’s where to look.

In your website analytics

  • ChatGPT referrals. ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to links it sends people to, so these visits appear as their own source.
  • Other AI referrers. Look for referral sources such as perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com and claude.ai.
  • Landing pages. AI visitors often land deep in a site (a rooms page, a FAQ) rather than the homepage.

Analytics only sees visitors that run JavaScript and accept cookies, so it undercounts.

In your server or CDN logs

Ask your web host or agency for user agents containing:

  • AI crawlers: GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot.
  • User-triggered fetchers: ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-User.
  • Agents: Google-Agent, which Google added in March 2026 for agents on its infrastructure.

Some agentic browsers look like ordinary Chrome and won’t show up separately.

In your booking engine

Check whether your vendor reports bookings by source or flags automated sessions. Some engines block suspicious sessions, which can include agents. Ask your vendor how many sessions were challenged or blocked last month.

Reading the signals together

No single source gives the full picture. Put together, they tell a story:

  • Analytics shows AI referrals that turned into visits, and whether those visits booked.
  • Logs show crawlers and agents that visited, including ones analytics can’t see.
  • The booking engine shows sessions that started and where they stopped.

A pattern worth looking for: AI crawlers visiting regularly, a few ChatGPT referrals, and almost no bookings from them. That usually means AI knows about you and sends some people, but agents and guests struggle to finish the booking.

What to ask your web agency or host

  • Do our logs show visits from GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, ChatGPT-User or Google-Agent?
  • Are any of those being challenged or blocked?
  • How many requests to our booking pages were blocked as bots last month?
  • Does our bot protection allow verified AI agents?

What to ask your booking engine vendor

  • Can you report bookings by referral source, including AI assistants?
  • Do you apply CAPTCHAs or bot checks on searches or checkout?
  • Have you tested your engine with AI agents such as ChatGPT agent or Gemini in Chrome?

The answers often surprise hotels, especially the last one.

What you won’t see

Agents that gave up on your site and booked an OTA instead. They leave a trace in your logs, at best a short visit with no booking. That’s why testing with a real agent tells you more than counting visits. Our free agent check does exactly that.

What this means for AI recommendations

AI crawler visits in your logs show that assistants are reading your site. Referrals from chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai in your analytics show they are sending guests. Both are early signs of AI visibility.

Questions

Does Google Analytics show ChatGPT traffic?

Yes, as referral traffic. ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to links, so those visits can be separated out. Analytics still undercounts AI visits that don't run scripts or accept cookies.

Can I see AI agents in my server logs?

Many identify themselves by user agent, such as ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-User and Google-Agent. Some agentic browsers look like ordinary Chrome and can't be told apart.

Why don't I see AI agents in Google Analytics?

Many agents and crawlers don't run analytics scripts or accept cookies, so they never appear there. Server or CDN logs show more.

What does a ChatGPT referral look like in analytics?

It appears as referral traffic tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com, usually landing on the page ChatGPT linked to, such as a room page or the homepage.

Sources

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