How Hilton’s comms strategy engineers content in a world of AI

AI’s meteoric rise has changed a lot of the calculus communicators need to do when considering how audiences find their content. Comms pros need to work with the flow of the technology and adjust their strategies.

During the second week of Ragan’s AI Certificate Course on November 17, Jennifer Fickley-Baker, director of global editorial at Hilton Worldwide, will share how her team combines cutting-edge AI use and old-school comms chops to ensure that Hilton stays in the conversation.

“We do AI audits every six months to see how Hilton is showing up in the news for different topics that are priorities for us,” Fickley-Baker said. “We identify gaps or areas of opportunity for content that may not be out there, or maybe what’s being searched for and doesn’t have a good answer. So we write things to fill those gaps. For example, we saw all this search activity around Embassy Suites and their happy hour — people wondering whether it’s actually free or includes food. But none of Hilton’s official channels had clear information. We partnered with the Embassy Suites team to gather the real details — what’s included and what guests can expect — and published them. Now our content is the top result for those queries. It’s one of the clearest wins we’ve had from AI-informed adjustments.”

Fickley-Baker added that her team’s AI audit process is manual for now, with the team entering prompts into generative AI programs based on Hilton’s comms priorities.

“We take the results and examine any out-of-the-box findings like outdated content that is somehow popping to number one; sources that AI engines are pulling from that are unreliable, unpreferred or wrong information,” she said. “We may examine the source from which the AI engine is pulling that info. If it’s an official Hilton source, we may develop updated or missing content.”

Here are a few other ways that Hilton’s content team is experimenting in an AI-laden comms landscape.

• Adding bylines to content. Fickley-Baker said that her team has dabbled in adding author bylines to Hilton comms pieces because AI models are beginning to value authentic and human-centric writing. “When a piece has a human name attached, it signals credibility. It’s also a cue for AI that this was human-created content — it helps it surface higher. A byline is one of the simplest, smartest ways to prove something isn’t machine-made.”

• Structuring content for AI. Fickley-Baker told Ragan that the AI boom has led her team to alter the format of external-facing content to better align with what GEO models prioritize in search to better serve the human audience. “We’ve started writing headlines and subheads with more intent — clear, searchable phrasing that tells both readers and AI exactly what’s inside,” she said. “At the top of each story, we add a few bullets summarizing key takeaways like an executive summary. At the bottom, we add a collapsible FAQ in plain language. That helps both humans and AI extract the essence of the story quickly.” She added that she also created a do’s and don’ts list for the comms team, guiding them on how AI reads content. “For example, limit the number of outbound links, don’t overload a story with buzzwords and use short, clear sentences. We also recommend adding natural question phrasing like ‘What time is check-in?’ or ‘Are pets allowed?’ because those match how people talk to AI.”
• Making brand tone work for the algorithm. Fickley-Baker said that in the hospitality industry, communications need to be warm and welcoming. That also needs to be considered when releasing content into an increasingly GEO-first world. That can include simplifying phrasing for better GEO uptake. “It’s not dumbing it down — it’s making sure the brand’s warmth isn’t lost when AI summarizes or reads it back to someone.”

Fickley-Baker also told Ragan that her team needs to take a two-pronged approach when assessing their content audience.

“We’re teaching the team to write for people and for AI,” she said. “That means thinking about how a human will read it and how a machine will interpret it. Those two things are starting to overlap, but not perfectly just yet.”

To register for Ragan’s AI Certificate Course, click here.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.