April 27, 2026

OK, we might subcategorize into whether the former are traveling with colleagues or alone., or whether the latter have brought their family or friends. And we might look at seasonality and local events, and their effect on whether they’re using your hotel as the focus of their activities or just a convenient base. But we miss out when we forget to consider – and therefore market to and cater for – guests that don’t fit into these convenient buckets but do have other things in common. We’re talking about the likes of s ocial, m ilitary, e ducational, r eligious and f raternal groups. Conveniently, there’s a handy acronym for this type of guest, which you’ve no doubt worked out: SMERF. Hold that word in your head, because the SMERF market isn’t insignificant, and this’ll help you with your strategy to capitalize on an often neglected demographic, one that epitomizes the opportunities of group business and maximizing occupancy. Key takeaways SMERF stands for Social, Military, Educational, Religious, and Fraternal groups that represent a significant but often overlooked hotel market segment beyond traditional business and leisure travelers. SMERF groups typically travel during off-peak seasons and offer high booking reliability due to strong emotional investment in their organizations and events, making them valuable for maximizing occupancy during slower periods. Hotels can attract SMERF business by offering group booking discounts, providing tailored amenities like themed meals and shuttle services, and marketing around special occasions and recurring events. These groups include diverse examples such as family clan gatherings, military units on shore leave, student bands and sports teams, religious pilgrimages, and fraternal organizations like college sororities and fraternities. Data-driven insights through business intelligence tools help hotels identify SMERF demand patterns, track local events, and develop targeted pricing and marketing strategies for these group bookings. SMERF groups often have strong bonds and recurring annual events, creating opportunities for hotels to establish long-term relationships and repeat business once they successfully serve these communities. Real-world examples of SMERFs While SMERFs shouldn’t be treated as one amorphous blob, and each group needs the personal touch , they do have much in common in terms of your broad marketing approach. So let’s take a moment to establish exactly who they are. Social groups Social groups can be defined by a common interest or affiliation, familial or otherwise, and very strong bonds, ones that often lead to yearly reunions. The examples we could give are virtually infinite but two that caught our eye while researching this article were: This Scottish family clan gathering in Texas , who met for the 61st year running in 2022 These go-kart racers who travel to Super Nationals in Vegas every year Organizations like these are less governed by the conventional cycles of the hotel industry, often traveling instead at times marketing an anniversary or But once they’ve set a date, they need accommodation and they often need it in bulk, ideally at the same property. Military groups Broadly speaking, the military can be broken

IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, announces its partnership with PAYBACK , Germany’s leading consumer loyalty programme with more than 35 million customers. The collaboration introduces a new way for German guests to earn rewards when staying at any of IHG’s 7,000+ hotels worldwide. The partnership strengthens the value of IHG One Rewards by connecting hotel stays with PAYBACK’s everyday rewards ecosystem - one of the most widely used loyalty platforms in Germany. For IHG One Reward members based in Germany, the partnership offers greater flexibility and value beyond travel rewards. Members can choose how they earn rewards when staying at participating IHG hotels around the world, by selecting either IHG One Rewards points or PAYBACK points as their earning preference within the IHG One Rewards app or IHG.com . PAYBACK points earned through hotel stays can be redeemed across PAYBACK’s extensive network of retail, grocery and lifestyle partners. We’re delighted to announce our partnership with PAYBACK, one of Germany’s most trusted loyalty programmes. It strengthens the importance of the German market to IHG and enables us to engage German travellers in a more relevant and personalised way. Beyond traditional travel rewards, the collaboration delivers added value for guests, boosts visibility for our owners, and highlights the strength of IHG’s masterbrand in building high‑value, market‑centric partnerships that drive growth Mario Maxeiner, Managing Director, Northern Europe at IHG Hotels & Resorts With IHG Hotels & Resorts, we are gaining a strong global partner with many popular brands that perfectly complement our travel offerings. At the same time, we’re demonstrating just how powerful our platform is. With PAYBACK, we bring a total of 700 strong brands together under one roof and offer more than 35 million customers the right offer, at the right time, through the right channel – now also to guests at IHG’s hotel brands such as InterContinental, Kimpton, Holiday Inn and Garner. This enables efficient new customer acquisition, strong engagement of existing guests, and additional booking incentives through personalized campaigns Dominik Dommick, Managing Director at PAYBACK IHG currently operates 190* hotels in Germany and has an additional 52 hotels in development. *Numbers as of 31 December 2025 For more information, please see FAQ’s here

Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) is redefining how hotels achieve visibility in a digital environment increasingly shaped by AI systems such as ChatGPT and Perplexity AI , as well as Google’s AI-driven search experiences. AI-driven discovery is already reshaping how travelers evaluate options. Instead of moving across multiple sites, users increasingly rely on direct queries that return summarised recommendations, often narrowing the field to a small set of hotels. This shift has measurable implications. Early usage patterns across AI search interfaces show that responses frequently consolidate options into a shortlist, typically fewer than five results, depending on query specificity. For hotels, this creates a more selective environment where visibility depends less on ranking and more on whether a property is clearly understood and trusted by the system generating the answer. Agent Engine Optimization (AEO), therefore, moves beyond traditional SEO. It requires hotels to structure their data, content, and distribution in ways that align with how AI systems retrieve and validate information. Takeaways Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) shifts visibility from ranking pages to being selected by AI systems AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Perplexity already reduce options to a small set of recommendations Consistent, structured data across systems increases the likelihood of inclusion Real-time data feeds improve accuracy and trust Content must be clearly structured so it can be extracted and reused in AI-generated answers Structuring for selection, not ranking Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) begins with a change in how hotel information is prepared. Unlike traditional search engines, AI systems do not simply index pages and return links. They retrieve structured data, compare attributes, and generate responses based on what they can confidently interpret. This behavior is well documented in modern retrieval-augmented generation systems, which prioritize clarity and consistency over volume. For hotels, this means that core property data must be aligned across systems. Room types, amenities, pricing, and policies need to be defined consistently across the website, booking engine, and distribution channels. When discrepancies exist, such as different room descriptions between a direct site and an OTA, AI systems may deprioritize or exclude that property due to uncertainty. In contrast, hotels that maintain consistent, structured data across platforms are more likely to be included in AI-generated recommendations . This reflects a broader shift where the quality of underlying data determines visibility. Try this yourself! Run a simple query such as “best affordable hotels in Sardinia” in platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity AI . Instead of returning a long list of ranked links, the system generates a summarised response that typically includes only a small number of hotel options. These recommendations are selected based on how clearly the system can interpret available data, rather than how a page ranks in a traditional search engine. This behavior is consistent across a range of travel-related queries and illustrates a key shift: visibility is determined by inclusion in the response, not position on a results page. Building a reliable data foundation The next requirement is accessibility. It is not enough for data to be