Absence Index, release 2026-09

Hotel property management software, measured across five AI engines

Independent hoteliers and hotel-group operators ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode which hotel property management platforms to shortlist before they talk to sales. The engines answer from public material, and the named set shapes the first list a buyer sees. This page records who the engines named in the September 2026 Absence Index, the buyer questions, where the five engines disagree, the sources they cited and the rename facts that confuse retrieval.

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Hotel property management software, observed 22 September 2026 (UTC)

115 of 149observed answers named Cloudbeds

25vendors checked in this category

5 of 25checked vendors named in none of the 149 observed answers

0 of 10buyer questions with no checked vendor named in any observed answer

Observed answers on stated dates, not a ranking. Every checked vendor on the Index

Who the engines named

Cloudbeds was named in 115 of 149 observed answers across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode, more often than any of the other 24 vendors the Index checked in this category. Cloudbeds on the Index.

5 of the 25 checked vendors were named in none of the 149 observed answers:

0 of the 10 buyer questions returned no checked vendor in any observed answer. This counts checked vendors only; an engine may still have named a vendor outside the checked set.

Also named often: Stayntouch and Little Hotelier. Every checked vendor's count and base is on the Index category page.

Answers were observed on 22 September 2026 (UTC) and released on 23 September 2026. These are observed answers on stated dates, not a ranking.

On the Index

What buyers ask

The ten buyer questions, in the buyers' own words, exactly as each engine was asked them.

Shortlist

What is the best hotel PMS for a small independent hotel?
What is the best PMS for a boutique hotel?
What is the best hotel PMS for a mid size hotel group?

Alternatives

What are the best alternatives to Opera PMS?
What are the best alternatives to Cloudbeds?
What are the best alternatives to Maestro PMS?

Buyer evaluation

Mews vs Cloudbeds, which PMS is better?
Maestro PMS vs RoomKeyPMS, which is better for an independent hotel?
What should I look for in a hotel property management system?

Specific workflow

What is the best PMS for a hotel group with eight properties?

Where the five engines disagree

All five engines named Cloudbeds most often. They differ further down the list; the per-engine counts are on the Index category page.

The vendor each engine named most often in its own observed answers
Engine	Named most often
ChatGPT	Cloudbeds
Claude	Cloudbeds
Perplexity	Cloudbeds
Google AI Overviews	Cloudbeds
Google AI Mode	Cloudbeds

The sources the engines cited

The domains the engines cited most often in this category's observed answers, in the order the Index records them. Each domain's count and base is on the Index category page.

hoteltechreport.com
roommaster.com
stayntouch.com
cloudbeds.com
mews.com
conduit.ai
g2.com
stayfi.com
capterra.com
littlehotelier.com

Renames and ownership changes in hotel property management

When a hotel property management vendor is acquired, taken private or rebranded, directories, review sites and trade press often keep the old string for months. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode, which most buyers call Gemini, retrieve that stale material. A retired product brand without a former-name bridge can still appear in answers, while the living brand is missing from the same shortlist.

Renames and ownership changes with a public source
Old name	New name	Date	Owner or sponsor	Product brand	Source
Sabre Hospitality Solutions	Aven Hospitality	2026-01 (rebrand; sale closed 2025-07)	TPG	SynXis product brand kept under Aven	Source, Sabre Hospitality Solutions Read 2026-09-22
InnQuest Software	roommaster Software	2025-08	Rebrand, no acquirer	corporate brand renamed to roommaster	Source, InnQuest Software Read 2026-09-22
Flexkeeping	Part of Mews	2025-09	Mews	Flexkeeping capabilities into Mews	Source, Flexkeeping Read 2026-09-22
Clarity Hospitality Software Solutions	Part of Mews	2025-01	Mews	into Mews	Source, Clarity Hospitality Software Solutions Read 2026-09-22

What changes the answer

Entity and structured data

Publish Organization and SoftwareApplication markup that states the current legal name, product name, former names and sameAs links to the profiles engines already cite. When a rename or acquisition happened, add a formerly-known-as bridge so the engines can connect the old string to the living brand.

Answer pages

Write pages that answer the buyer questions above in buyer language, with no brand name planted in the question wording itself. Publish them on the vendor domain the engines already try to cite.

Source placement

Place accurate product and ownership facts on the directories, review sites, trade press and forums the engines cite in this category, listed above.

Crawler access and review presence

Confirm robots rules, rendering and any bot filter still let AI crawlers reach the answer and entity pages, and keep listings current on the review sites for this category so the engines retrieve one consistent name, domain and category label.

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Questions

Which hotel property management software vendors did AI engines name most often in the September 2026 Absence Index?

Cloudbeds was named in 115 of 149 observed answers across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. The next most named were Stayntouch and Little Hotelier. These are observed answers on stated dates, not a ranking; every checked vendor's count and base is on the Index category page.

Why does a rename change what AI engines say?

Engines retrieve public material that still carries retired product names, old legal entities and pre-acquisition domains. When those strings are not bridged to the current brand, the answer can name a name the company no longer uses, or skip the living brand entirely.

What should a hotel property management software vendor measure first?

Start with the ten buyer questions on this page. Record, for each question and each of the five engines, whether the brand was named and whether the brand domain was cited. Keep the wording frozen between runs so the comparison stays valid.

How is Broadcastwell related to the vendors in this category?

Broadcastwell measures AI search visibility for B2B software and publishes the Absence Index. It does not sell hotel property management software, and no vendor commissioned this category's measurement.

Industries in the Absence Index

Cite as: Broadcastwell, The Absence Index, release 2026-09, 23 September 2026, method v1.1. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22907695. This category in release 2026-09 on the Index. Data license CC BY 4.0. Every figure comes from the published method, v1.1.