Google Hotel Ads: how to receive direct bookings from Google

What is the most commonly used tourist portal for planning a trip? Google, of course.

Who has never opened a "blank page" in Google to start a research for their next holiday? Statistics show that 60% of people planning a holiday and 55% of those who travel for work use Google to plan their trips: a pool of potentially very interesting users to attract during the various stages of travel research and planning.

So why not take advantage of the huge opportunity that the most powerful search engine offers?

Google offers hotel managers Google Hotel Ads, a tool that allows to display the best rates available on the hotel’s official sales channels within the Google tab where previously only the rates of online portals were reported.

The user will be able to view all available rates, from intermediate ones, to those available on the hotel’s website, choose the most convenient one and book with a simple click: a very valuable service to receive direct bookings. Indeed, Google Hotel Ads cancels all unnecessary steps that could interrupt the user's research, facilitating the reservation process.

Moreover, Google Hotel Ads is available on all devices and given the high use of smartphones during travel research and planning phases, this service can really make a difference for hotel managers.

How Google Hotel Ads works

The Google Hotel Ads service changes according to how the user is looking for information, let's see in detail how it works:

Generic searches

In the case of a generic search, for example, "hotels in Rome" on the results page provided by Google there will be, together with the results listed according to organic positioning and paid ads, a grid with a list of hotels. In addition to listing hotels and reporting a mini map to view the property’s location, you can also enter travel dates and sort results based on different filters: best result, lowest price, highest rating, hotel category and many others.

Clicking on "view all hotels" will open a screen with the map of Rome and the complete list of all hotels on the left, with some basic information such as price, stars and a brief description. By clicking on one of these results, the system will open the hotel card that contains all detailed information on the services, reviews, address, telephone number and price grid: here Google Hotel Ads comes into play. The new service provided by Google will display all rates available on the portals in which the property is listed and, if your Booking Engine allows it, also the rates of your official sales channel to make sure that the user can complete the reservation on your Booking Engine rather than on online portals. In other cases, instead, the search for the ideal hotel depends on its location, therefore the traveler will search directly on Google Maps. By clicking on the displayed results, he will be able to open the hotel card of the property that most interests them, easily compare all rates available on the different sales channels and complete the reservation process in one click.

Specific researches

The same applies when you are looking for a specific hotel: users often surf on various portals, such as Booking.com to find hotels in their area of ​​interest. Afterwards, once they have selected the property, they decide to make a further analysis by conducting specific researches on Google, both to find out more information on the hotel, but also to check if there are more convenient offers. In this case, when searching directly for the name of the property, google will display the hotel card with all information available and the various rates displayed by the different online portals.

In this case as well, if your Booking Engine is compatible with Google Hotel Ads, you can place your direct price on top of Booking.com to induce the user to make a direct booking, which will be more advantageous for him and of course for you.

In both cases, both in the generic search and in the specific one, the traveler clicking on the rate offered from the hotel's direct channel will be redirected to the property’s Booking Engine where he will be able to view the various accommodation options available in the selected dates and will be able to complete the reservation in a quick and simple way.

Why should you use Google Hotel Ads?

Establish a direct relationship with your future guests

By increasing the chances of receiving direct bookings, there will no longer be any intermediary between the guest and the property, which means that you will obtain statistics and information about their travel planning process to predict and attract your future guests. In addition, another advantage is to establish a relationship with the guest after the check out: once you have recorded his data and after having obtained his consent, you will be able to send promotional offers and holiday greetings by email (read this article to learn more about the new rules introduced by GDPR on guest data processing).

Increase your revenue

Direct reservations, as everyone knows, do not involve commission costs for the hotel, so all bookings made through this channel will increase your revenue on each sale.

In addition, when the user clicks on your Google Hotel Ad and is redirected to your website, he most likely has already shortlisted your hotel based on different parameters such as: price range, availability, services, locations and reviews. This means that you are dealing with a "qualified" user, a contact ready to perform an action, which will land directly on your booking engine to complete the reservation.

Do you want to use Google Hotel Ads as well? Here's how to do it.

The partnership between Google and Ericsoft allows you to use this service straight away: not only will you be able to use Google as a direct sales channel but you will be able to manage this service, at no extra cost, directly from the Ericsoft control panel.

The Ericsoft Booking Engine is indeed the only one on the market to have fully integrated Google Hotel Ads in a panel within the software, free and easy to use, from which you can view the progress of your investments, decide how much to spend, which limitations to include (geographical area, duration of stay, days in advance).

Here are some of the features that characterize the panel designed to manage Google Hotel Ads:

• easy to use: no technical knowledge is required to use the panel, so you do not need to rely on third parties (and pay additional costs) to use the Google Hotel Ads service

• clear and intuitive: you decide how much to invest and, data at hand, you can check how your money was spent and what are the results obtained (how many times your ad was clicked, how many direct bookings you received)

• free: Google Hotel Ads is already included in the Booking Engine. 

• active 24 hours a day: the Ericsoft online panel is accessible at any time from any device (smartphone, tablet, pc) so you can manage your Google Ads campaigns wherever you are

If you want to increase your sales with Google Hotel Ads or receive additional information on its functionalities call us at +39 0541 604894 or fill out the form below