ChatGPT now lets businesses claim a profile. What UK independent hotels should do
ChatGPT now lets businesses claim a profile and see how often it mentions them. It isn’t confirmed for UK hotels yet. Here’s what it means for independents, and six things to do now.
By Graeme · 11 November 2026 · 4 min read
On 10 November, OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT. It’s in beta, and the headline is simple: businesses can now claim a profile inside ChatGPT, keep their details up to date, and see how often ChatGPT mentions them.
If you run an independent hotel, your first question is probably “can I do this today?” The honest answer is: not as far as anyone knows yet. But the direction it points in matters, and the work that gets you ready is worth doing anyway.
What OpenAI has launched
There are three parts.
Business Hub. Eligible businesses can claim their business and verify it, by a call or text to the main business number or through their website’s domain settings. They can then update their key details. Verified businesses can also add product feeds with prices and availability.
Insights. Once claimed, a business can see how often ChatGPT mentions it, how many clicks its website link gets, and the themes of conversations where its website is cited. OpenAI says it doesn’t share people’s conversations with businesses. One honest detail from OpenAI’s own dashboard: a click recorded in ChatGPT doesn’t confirm a website visit, let alone a booking.
Business Agents. A business can set up an assistant that answers customers’ questions inside ChatGPT, and can pay to promote it, with sponsored placements clearly labelled. For now this is only for eligible online shops and online service businesses in the US. OpenAI says it plans to add more countries and types of business, but hasn’t given dates.
OpenAI says 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week. That’s a very big shop window being built.
What it doesn’t mean yet
I want to be clear here, because the headlines will run ahead of the facts.
- Nobody has confirmed that UK hotels can claim a profile. OpenAI says eligibility depends on industry, location and its own checks. On launch day, at least one business outside the US was put on a waiting list (PPC Land). I applied for Codero on the day it launched, and was put on a waiting list too.
- Business Agents aren’t open to hotels, or to anyone in the UK. They’re US only, for online shops and online services.
- ChatGPT still can’t book a UK hotel inside the chat. Nothing in this announcement changes that.
So if someone offers to “set your hotel up on ChatGPT” this month, ask them what exactly they’ll set up. Right now there’s nothing for a UK hotel to claim.
Why it still matters
Look at what OpenAI is building: a place where businesses supply their own facts, rather than leaving ChatGPT to piece them together from around the web. Google has done this for years with Business Profiles and Hotel Center. When ChatGPT opens its version to hotels and the UK, hotels with clear, consistent, up-to-date details will be ready on day one.
The rest will be described from whatever ChatGPT can find. For most independent hotels, that’s the OTA listings. Booking.com often knows your check-in time, dog policy and room sizes better than your own website does. When that happens, the guest, and any AI helping them, books through the OTA, and you pay the commission.
I’ve written more about this shift in how Google’s AI Mode is starting to book hotels.
What to do now
None of this needs ChatGPT to open up first, and every item also helps your Google results and your direct bookings today.
Ready for ChatGPT: a six-point check
- Rooms, prices, policies and menus are written as text on your own website, not in images or PDFs.
- Your details match everywhere: website, Google, TripAdvisor, booking engine and local directories.
- Your website isn’t blocking ChatGPT’s crawlers (OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User) in its robots.txt file.
- Google Hotel Center and free booking links are set up, so your own rate shows beside the OTAs.
- There’s one clear, plain reason to book direct, on every page.
- You’ve asked ChatGPT “where should I stay in [your town]?” and noted which link it gives for your hotel.
That last one takes two minutes and is often eye-opening. If ChatGPT names you but links to Booking.com, it’s telling you where it trusts your details most.
The robots.txt check is a one-minute job for whoever looks after your website, so ask them. And “details match everywhere” sounds dull, but mismatched check-in times or parking information are exactly what make an AI tool trust the OTA’s version over yours.
What I’m watching
Three things: when hotels can join Business Hub, when the UK is added, and whether Business Agents will ever take a booking. When any of those changes, I’ll update this post.
If you’d like to know how ready your hotel is, I’ll run a free AI-readiness audit. It checks whether AI tools can read your website, whether your details match across the web, and what ChatGPT and Google say about you today. There’s more on how I approach this on the AI-ready hotels page.
Sources
- OpenAI, Introducing Businesses in ChatGPT, 10 November 2026
- Search Engine Roundtable, ChatGPT Business Hub, 10 November 2026
- PPC Land, Businesses gain ChatGPT click and mention counts in OpenAI’s Business Hub, 11 November 2026
- Reuters, via News.az, OpenAI allows businesses to claim ChatGPT profiles
