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Location, Location, Location — Is That Still a Thing in the Age of AI?

Why being “findable” is no longer enough — and why location now means something very different.

For decades, the hotel mantra was simple:

Location, location, location.

Corner plots.
Motorway exits.
Opposite the convention centre.
On the main square.
Five minutes from downtown.

Visibility meant survival.

But that logic belonged to a pre-navigation world — when guests needed to see you to find you.

That world is gone.

Navigation solved geography. AI is now redefining meaning.

With Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps and ride-hailing apps, every hotel is equally reachable.

You no longer need:

  • a motorway sign
  • a landmark address
  • a famous square

Everyone can find you.

Which is why location is no longer a competitive advantage by itself.

But here’s the mistake many hotels still make:

They assume guests understand what their location actually means.

They don’t.

“City centre” means nothing to AI — and very little to guests

Hotels still describe themselves as:

  • “centrally located”
  • “close to downtown”
  • “near the convention centre”
  • “minutes from attractions”

But ask yourself honestly:

What does “city centre” mean to a guest?

  • Quiet or loud?
  • Historic or business?
  • Walkable cafés or empty offices?
  • Cultural or transactional?

What does “opposite the convention centre” actually signal?

  • Energy?
  • Isolation after 6pm?
  • Business-only atmosphere?

And what does “West”, “Airport”, or “District X” mean in a chain hotel name — if the hotel itself has no clear identity?

Location without interpretation is just a coordinate.

AI does not work with coordinates.
AI works with context.

Grand hotels understood this 100 years ago

Look back to the great hotels of the early 1900s.

Downtown land was scarce or undesirable.
So they built destinations outside the city:

  • grand gardens
  • ballrooms
  • dining rooms
  • spas
  • social life
  • rituals

They didn’t sell where they were.
They sold what being there felt like.

Location was reframed as experience.

Today, we are coming full circle — but with AI as the interpreter.

AI adds a new layer to location: intention

Guests no longer ask:

“Which hotel is closest?”

They ask:

“A quiet hotel near the old town.”
“A lively place in a creative neighbourhood.”
“Somewhere calm by the sea, but not isolated.”
“A hotel in a party town — but not noisy at night.”
“A nature retreat that still feels connected.”

These are location + emotion questions.

AI doesn’t just need to know where you are.
It needs to know what that location feels like.

And most hotels don’t express that — at all.

Chains and flags struggle most with location meaning

Large brands flatten location into:

  • distance
  • zone
  • proximity
  • standardized descriptors

That’s why you get names like:

  • “West”
  • “Airport”
  • “Convention”
  • “Business District”

Useful for logistics.
Useless for meaning.

To AI, these hotels are indistinguishable.
To guests, they are interchangeable.

This is where independent hotels have a massive advantage — if they express it.

Location is no longer “where you are” — it’s how you sit in your environment

AI cares about:

  • urban energy vs calm
  • cultural density
  • landscape dominance
  • isolation vs connection
  • walkability vs retreat
  • day vs night character
  • seasonal atmosphere

In DNA Hotels terms, location becomes semantic.

Not:

“5 minutes from X”

But:

  • embedded in the cultural core
  • perched above the city
  • quietly removed from the crowd
  • integrated into nature
  • surrounded by creative life
  • intentionally isolated
  • socially charged or contemplative

This is legible to AI.
And meaningful to guests.

How hotels can act today (December 16 — not 2026)

You don’t need new technology.
You need clarity.

1. Redefine your location in human language

Write one paragraph answering:

“What does it feel like to stay here, because of where we are?”

Not landmarks.
Not distances.
Feelings.

2. Declare whether you are a destination or a base

Be honest.

  • Are guests coming for you?
  • Or through you?

Both are valid — confusion is not.

3. Express day vs night reality

Is it calm after sunset?
Does the area empty out?
Does it come alive?

AI needs this.
Guests care deeply.

4. Align location with vibe

Urban ≠ lively
Nature ≠ isolated

Spell it out.

5. Appear in meaning-led platforms

AI reads:

  • editorial platforms
  • curated collections
  • narrative descriptions
  • semantic frameworks

This is where DNA Hotels and MAI (Meaningful Architectural Index) come in — expressing not just where a hotel is, but how it exists in its place.

The new truth about location

Location used to help guests find hotels.

Now guests can find any hotel.

What they need help with is understanding:

  • what staying there means
  • how it will feel
  • whether it fits their intent

AI is becoming the interpreter of that meaning.

Hotels that articulate their location as context, atmosphere and intention will win.

Hotels that cling to coordinates and clichés will quietly disappear.

**Location isn’t dead.

But it’s no longer physical.**

It’s semantic.

And the hotels that understand this now — not later — will be the ones AI chooses to show.

Published December 16.
The future isn’t coming.
It’s already reading you.

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