ChatGPT will now tell you how often it names your hotel. If you can claim it.
OpenAI's new Business Hub shows a claimed business 28 days of ChatGPT mentions, website clicks and discovery topics from OpenAI's own data, and for now OpenAI lets local businesses claim only an existing US listing
by Markus Busch
The number. Since November 10, a business that claims its profile in ChatGPT can see how often ChatGPT names it. OpenAI calls these mentions, and for a local business it counts one "when ChatGPT shows a result for that location, even if the customer doesn't open the listing or visit its website." Next to it sit website clicks and discovery topics, the themes of the answers the business appeared in. Each view covers the past 28 days.
Why it's different. Until now, a hotel that wanted to know how often AI names it had to buy the answer. Visibility vendors run their own set of test questions, record which hotels come back, and turn the result into a score. We have argued that those scores are mostly noise: the same question asked twice gets a different answer, and a vendor can only count what shows on the screen, never what the machine read.
OpenAI's count comes from the other side of the screen. It covers ChatGPT's answers to real travelers, not a vendor's test questions. For a hotel that pays for a monthly AI visibility report, this is the first figure to hold that report against.
What it won't show. You never see a guest's question. OpenAI's help article says businesses "don't receive individual prompts or consumer conversations." Discovery topics group themes and, in OpenAI's words, don't "directly measure customer intent." Counts can be blank when activity is below a reporting threshold, and a blank is not a zero. Nor does the number come with a comp set. You see yourself, not the hotel down the street.
Who gets it. Only a claimed, verified business. OpenAI's help article sets the rule for physical businesses: "Local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing." Hotels aren't named, and OpenAI says eligibility depends on industry and location. Claiming takes a phone, email, website or Shopify check, then an identity check through Persona, an outside verification firm, which can ask for a government ID and business registration. Each property is claimed on its own: "Claiming the main brand doesn't claim its locations."
Claiming changes nothing about how often you're named. "Claiming does not guarantee higher placement or sales," OpenAI writes.
Monday. A US hotel can open Business Hub in the ChatGPT sidebar, search its name and start the claim. Once the numbers arrive, put them next to the last AI visibility report you paid for and see whether the two move together.
Everywhere else, search anyway. If your hotel is listed, ChatGPT already has a profile for it, built from sources you didn't choose. The count exists whether or not you can see it. Right now, OpenAI decides which hotels get to look.
Read also: Your hotel's AI visibility score is mostly noise · Your AI visibility score measures the part OpenAI can change overnight
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