STAYERY

Visibility meets accessibility: A 360° audit of the digital guest journey

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technical indexing hurdles identified

key accessibility issues uncovered

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missing alt texts identified

About STAYERY

STAYERY is one of the most dynamic providers in the rapidly growing market for serviced apartments in Germany. The concept bridges the gap between traditional hotels and temporary accommodation: guests enjoy the comfort of a fully equipped apartment (including kitchenette) combined with the amenities of a hotel (cleaning, service).

With locations in major cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt, and Cologne, as well as B-cities such as Bielefeld and Wolfsburg, the brand primarily targets young professionals, digital nomads, and millennials. Whether for a few days or several months, STAYERY offers more than just a bed: co-working spaces and community areas make the properties a lively part of the neighborhood.

Step 1

The Challenge

Our project began in March 2025. At that time, STAYERY was in a phase of rapid expansion. Since the concept is based on a completely contactless, digital guest journey—from booking to check-in—the website is much more than just a business card: it is the heart of the company’s operations. In order to promote the ambitious growth targets (expansion into other A-cities and other European countries), the digital infrastructure had to be proactively reviewed.

Strengthening direct sales

The primary marketing goal was to increase direct bookings via the company’s own website in order to reduce dependence on commission-based booking platforms (e.g., Booking.com). This requires maximum visibility in organic search results.

Preparing for accessibility

Since STAYERY does not operate a physical reception desk in the traditional sense, a barrier on the website means that potential guests are directly excluded. In view of the upcoming accessibility requirements, it should be ensured that digital access is guaranteed for all people in a legally compliant and inclusive manner.

Discrepancy between search behavior and brand positioning

There were indications that potential guests did not yet fully understand the concept of “serviced apartments” or were primarily looking for hotels. The challenge was to close the gap between the search volume for generic hotel terms and STAYERY’s specific long-stay offering (intention match).

Validation after domain transfer

After migrating from .de to .com, there was uncertainty about the technical health of the site. There was no external, professional validation to determine whether technical legacy issues (such as redirect chains or indexing problems) were unnoticedly slowing down the ranking potential.

AI visibility

The shift from traditional search results to direct AI responses (via ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Mode) is radically changing search behavior. There was a strategic risk that STAYERY would not appear as an entity or recommendation in these generated responses, as the website structure and semantic data were not yet sufficiently readable or optimized for large language models (LLMs).

Step 2

Our Approach

In order to create a solid data basis for strategic development, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of STAYERY’s digital assets between March and May 2025. Our approach was twofold: we examined the technical excellence and inclusivity of the existing platform while identifying new organic growth paths through an intention analysis.

Accessibility Audit

Since the website functions as a “digital reception desk,” the goal was to validate compliance with WCAG 2.1 guidelines. We used a combination of automated tests (e.g., Lighthouse) and manual checks to simulate the user experience for people with disabilities.

Media audit: Checking all image assets and graphic elements for the presence of alt text.
Keyboard operability: We simulated navigation without a mouse (tab navigation). In doing so, we specifically checked whether the keyboard focus always remains visible and whether interactive elements such as the date selection or the “Book now” button can be controlled via the keyboard. Special focus was placed on the critical booking funnel.
Contrasts: Using contrast analyses (e.g., Color Contrast Analyzer), we checked the ratio of foreground to background colors for conformity (target: 4.5:1 for continuous text). We identified specific design elements and buttons whose ratio was insufficient for visually impaired people. We also checked whether text sizes and spacing (line height, paragraph spacing) were scalable without destroying the layout.
Screen reader optimization: Analysis of the HTML structure for correct use of ARIA labels and roles. We checked whether interactive elements such as “Show More” buttons were semantically correct as <button> or incorrectly marked as <div>. We also used assistive technologies such as VoiceOver (MacOS screen reader). In addition, we checked the heading hierarchy (H1-H6) for logical sequences and identified pages with multiple or missing H1 tags, which make orientation difficult for screen readers.
Form validation: Special focus was placed on the booking engine. We examined whether input fields (e.g., arrival/departure) have linked labels so that screen readers can read aloud the purpose of the field. We also checked whether users can review and correct their entries before submitting them (error prevention).
Pausability check: We analyzed moving elements such as sliders and tickers. The decisive factor here was whether users could pause animations.
Multilingualism: Since STAYERY operates internationally, we checked whether language changes were correctly marked (hreflang) and whether foreign-language terms within German texts were provided with correct lang attributes to prevent incorrect pronunciation by screen readers.

SEO/GEO Audit & Intentions Analysis

We combined a technical SEO health check with a modern intent analysis (keyword research), which also takes into account search behavior in AI-based systems (GEO audit).

Indexing control: Analysis of crawling efficiency using Google Search Console and crawling tools. We examined in detail the handling of URL parameters, trailing slashes, and canonical tags to rule out duplicate content and indexing bloat.
Page Speed & Core Web Vitals: Performance measurement of loading times (LCP, CLS) and analysis of asset sizes (images, scripts), especially in the mobile view.
Semantic differentiation: Investigation of the search intentions behind terms such as “hotel,” “serviced apartment,” and “aparthotel” in order to tailor the landing pages precisely to the vocabulary of the target group.
Cluster identification: Analysis of long-tail potential and question keywords (“W questions”).
Simulation of AI dialogues: Conducting real test queries in AI systems such as Perplexity.ai, ChatGPT, and Bing Copilot to check whether STAYERY is recognized as an entity and cited as a recommendation in the generated response.
Structured data: Checking the source code for JSON-LD markups (such as LodgingBusiness, FAQPage, LocalBusiness), which are essential for AIs to be able to read facts (prices, locations, reviews) accurately and feed them into “knowledge graphs.”
Q&A: Examination of the content structure for Q&A formats (question-answer patterns). We checked whether questions are answered precisely in the first few sentences (“People Also Ask” strategy) to increase the likelihood of being used as a source in Google’s generated AI responses.
Check of AI crawler control (robots.txt): Technical review of the robots.txt file to ensure that relevant AI bots are not accidentally blocked.
Validation of trust signals for LLMs: Review of the website for elements that are considered indicators of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) by both Google and other AI search systems. This included analyzing author information, verified reviews, certificates, and a clear “About Us” structure, as AIs prefer to display information from trustworthy sources.

We Create Digital Leaders!

Step 3

WEVENTURE delivers Results

Our audits provided STAYERY not only with a list of deficiencies, but also with a comprehensive catalog of measures prioritized for technical and content-related realignment. Instead of vague assumptions, hard figures are now available for further growth. (As of June 2025)

Technical indexing hurdles identified

Our SEO audit revealed technical issues that were unnecessarily costing Google money. We identified exactly 191 internal redirects and 9 redirect chains, as well as 119 duplicate content issues (caused by URL parameters and incorrect canonicals).

Critical accessibility issues uncovered

Our accessibility audit identified six key problem areas, including keyboard navigation (the “Book now” button and date selection cannot be used), screen readers (e.g., alt text), color contrasts (some too low), forms (no ARIA labels), animations (no pause option), and code semantics.

Sales cluster identified

We delivered keyword sets for three new areas with high transaction potential: “meeting rooms” (highly searched), “parking on site” (high utility value), and “eating out guides” (informative).

Zero-click danger

Our tests with AI search engines showed that STAYERY was not yet recommended as an entity for queries such as “serviced apartment provider.” We provided options for action to close this gap.

Missing alt texts identified

We analyzed hundreds of media elements and demonstrated that the majority of images did not have alt text. Together with the analysis of color contrasts (which fell below the WCAG ratio of 4.5:1 on almost all location pages, e.g., Berlin and Bremen), we provided a detailed inventory of assets that need to be optimized for an inclusive brand.

Brand semantics

We demonstrated that over 50% of traffic came via brand keywords. At the same time, the analysis showed that the search volume for “hotel” is many times higher than for “serviced apartment.” The result is a clear recommendation for hybrid optimization of the landing pages in order to also attract users who are actually looking for a hotel but need an apartment.

Further findings from our analyses

Learnings

Important Learnings

Vocabulary gap between users and brands: The analysis showed that the target group often still searches in “hotel mode.” In order to capture new customers at the top of the funnel, the content strategy must close this semantic gap and use hybrid terms instead of rigidly insisting on technical terminology. The difference between the terms should still be explained, e.g., in an FAQ, for both humans and machines.
Digital accessibility is relevant to sales: Since STAYERY does not have a physical reception desk, the website is the only point of access. Barriers in the booking process (such as the lack of keyboard operability) are therefore not mere “UX blemishes,” but hard exclusion criteria that can directly cost sales.
Technical debt slows down scaling: The number of technical legacy issues (redirect chains, canonical errors) showed that the previous setup had not grown at the same pace as the expansion. Before rolling out additional locations and languages, the technical basis (“hygiene”) must be cleaned up, otherwise errors will multiply with each new page.
“Side entrances” as growth drivers: STAYERY has already laid a strong foundation with well-ranked brand keywords. However, the data showed that users often search for solutions (e.g., “temporary rental,” “meeting room”). This means that specific landing pages for these “use cases” act as efficient side entrances to capture users who are not yet familiar with the STAYERY brand.
AI visibility requires structure: The fact that AI systems ignored the brand in comparisons highlighted a new risk. Our learning: In the era of ChatGPT & Co., text alone is not enough. The brand must also be made readable by machines as a clear “entity” through structured data (Schema.org) in order to be better recommended in generative search.