12 years
"Hey, just finished up writing an interesting post on the Hotel Finder topic. Thoughts?
https://bananadesk.com/blog/post/2012/12/12/google-hotel-finder-for-host..."
Your hostel on the Google Hotel Finder page
Internet Marketing
How to claim your Google Hotel Finder page
Google Hotel Finder's initial feed of hotel data was obtained from many sources such as Google's own data, OTAs, GDS representation companies, Yelp and many more. As such, the likelihood that your hotel is already listed in Google Hotel Finder is very high.
If you list your hostel on Booking.com or Expedia, Google should already have something about you in the Hotel Finder. Even if you don’t work with those sites, your hostel may still be there.
Search for your hostel here. Is the listing correct? Is it Complete? Are there changes that you would like to make? Use your Google+ Local page to control the content.
If your hotel is not listed in Google Hotel Finder, the first thing you should do is get a free Google+ Local page. Google+ Local is a powerful tool for destination based businesses like hotels and restaurants, because it combines customer reviews and local search into one platform. Think of your Google+ Local page as your brand hub within everything Google.
To find the Google+ Local registration page for your country, simply search "Google+ Local" on your local version of Google.
Once you completed the registration process, your Google+ Local page will hold all static information for your hotel, like name, description, images, and the official URL to your website - read for Google Hotel Finder to retrieve and use for your hotel listing.
Rather than scraping all of the information from the web, Google is giving us the chance to provide our own information. It’s like letting us determine what will go into the “official” Google search results for our hostels.
- Comments
12 years
"Glad you enjoyed it!
Booking.com is definitely a booking option like you pointed out, as are most of the other big hotel channels. It will be interesting to see if and how Google will index (or allow you to add?) your website's booking prices among the other booking options. Like you mentioned, the listing normally contains your hostel's url (which is great compared to other channels that won't show it at all) in the Overview section and under the ""More"" button, although it doesn't show any pricing :(
True what you say about the pros/cons about your SEO efforts on Hotel Finder... But it seems logical that Hotel Finder will be the way Google funnels potential guests through travel search, so I think it's worth getting that additional visibility when someone is searching for your city, we'll have to see how this all plays out though.
My HB account manager says they are a Google Affiliate and your listing should be connected to your Hotel Finder listing. Check out this screenshot as an example:
"
12 years
Very nice write-up! A clear summary of why the Google Hotel Finder implementation matters and how we can control our content. Thank you!
Google does not actually complete the booking directly on their site (for now). When the user is ready to book, Google sends him to one of its affiliate OTAs where you’re already listed (like Hostelworld or Hostelbookers) to complete the reservation.
It’s really good that you pointed this out. For me, the booking options are booking.com (prominently displayed) and then my own site (but only if I click the More button). A link to my site is also discretely listed under the photos in the overview section. Hopefully my customers will find it! HW and HB are not listed as booking options for my hostel, and their bed inventory is not displayed.
Since Google connects my customers to the OTAs to make their booking, I am concerned that all of the photos, unique text, and SEO efforts that I make on Google Hotel Finder will just help push customers who are looking specifically for my hostel to the booking sites (specifically to booking.com where I lose 15%). On the other hand, this offers me additional visibility if someone just searches for the city, and I’m really glad that I can control all of that content.
Did you get any feedback from your account manager at HB yet?
12 years
True what you say about the pros/cons about your SEO efforts on Hotel Finder... But it seems logical that Hotel Finder will be the way Google funnels potential guests through travel search, so I think it's worth getting that additional visibility when someone is searching for your city, we'll have to see how this all plays out though.
I think so too. There's no agreement with Google like there is with the other booking sites. You don't choose to work with them, they just list your property. But they're just compiling the information that is already out there (presumably info that we put out there through various channels) to create this listing. I'm really happy that they let me take some control over how my hostel is presented instead of just throwing up whatever they find on the web. I would be even happier if they would let me control the room types and prices too. Maybe that's coming in the future?
My HB account manager says they are a Google Affiliate and your listing should be connected to your Hotel Finder listing.
Strange. I give HB a lot more beds and room types than Booking, so those should also show up. I'll have to look into why they don't.
11 years
It will be interesting to see if and how Google will index (or allow you to add?) your website's booking prices among the other booking options. Like you mentioned, the listing normally contains your hostel's url (which is great compared to other channels that won't show it at all) in the Overview section and under the "More" button, although it doesn't show any pricing :(
This article addresses that question. How to Get Listed on Google Hotel Finder
Hotel Website Links
If the hotel has a website added to Google Local, then Hotel Finder may provide a link to the website, allowing guests to book directly from the hotel website. However, the link is hidden under a ‘more’ drop-down button. It has no pricing information and is at the bottom of the list, discouraging clicks. In order for an independent hotel to take over the red booking button and sell rooms directly, the hotel must hire a service to run Hotel Price Ads on their behalf, and win a bidding war between the competing OTAs.
So we cannot move our own websites to a more ideal position among the booking options via the Google+ Local dashboard. Considering that the proposed solution would probably cost way more than I care to spend, and that it benefits Google financially, I really appreciate that they have also put the link to my site under the photos for free.
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