How Can Small Hotels and Vacation Rental Owners Utilize Google Hotel Ads
Put yourself in a traveler’s shoes, you have your holiday destination selected and you are now starting to plan your trip. Where would you start your web browsing?
If you are thinking “Google,” Bingo! Google is taking over 77% of the word’s web searches with over 4.5 billion searches made per day. Now, as a property owner you can leverage that by using Google Hotel Ads. Google Ads make it easier for travellers to find accommodation deals and for property owners to advertise effectively and get bookings without commissions. This type of digital presence is highly-effective as it targets active searchers and is most likely to drive direct bookings.
Google Hotel Ads Defined
Google designed a cost-effective tool for accommodation owners to advertise directly to customers who are searching for their type of accommodation. This type of ads appears on the first page of the search engine results page with details such as:
- Real-Time Rates on all channels
- Location with street view
- Guest Reviews
- High-Resolution Images
- Link to Your Website
- Google Map View
It is important that you provide Google with an up-to-date information that includes the room rates, availability, pictures, and the type of rooms you have so that when guests are looking for accommodations, they can easily see your listing.
For example, if they type “best hotels in Singapore,” they will see something like this image:
This page has several filters which include:price, rating, type of hotel, and the amenities offered. Once the guest selects a hotel, they will be taken to a more detailed page which also includes the different booking channels and the price offered by those channels.
To take the full advantage of Google Hotel Ads, it is crucial that you have an optimised, working website with a direct booking engine. With a price comparison ready available your guests are most likely to pick the lowest rate offered on your website. Make sure you make it easy for them and offer an instant booking system on your fast-running and responsive website.
Google Hotel Ads allow small hotel and property owners to compete directly with OTAs, boosting traffic to their website and encouraging direct bookings.
Benefits of Using Google Hotel Ads
- Increase Direct Bookings- Boost traffic to your website and cut down on the costs of booking through a go-between.
- Relevant Searches- Users look for your type of accommodation.
- More Qualified Leads- Google Hotel Ads do not direct just any kind of traffic to your website. Guests who reach your site are active searchers who filtered results to match their preferences.
- Gain Vital Customer Information- When you use OTAs for your internet traffic, you lose access to information on guests and their travel-planning process. This data can help you to better market to future guests.
- Connect with Customers- Google Hotel Ads make it possible to reach an untapped market. It also signals trust that yours is a professional business.
Get Started with Your Best Foot Forward
- Launch and optimise your website with a booking engine (e.g. Nuevah)
- Create a Google My Business Account as a free listing tool to provide essential information and capture traffic.
- Boost your Google reviews.
- Provide real-time rates that are consistent throughout all channels and on your site. You may choose to offer lower prices on your website to encourage guests to book direct. To easier manage rates across channels use a Channel Manager.
- Offer competitive rates. The disparity with your direct competitors can decrease your perceived value.
- Next, sign up to use the Google Business View tool to highlight the interiors of your hotel or vacation rental.
- Optimize your listing with high-resolution photos.
Final Thoughts
Google Hotel Ads is a great tool to connect with highly-qualified leads and boost direct traffic. It can also help you cut down on OTA fees. With 3.5 billion searches made on Google per day, enrolling in Google Hotel Ads is a sound decision to meet your goals, such as increased direct bookings, increased revenue, and marketing to a broader audience.
