Now available in Search & Maps – free hotel booking links
In 2021, Google launched free hotel booking links, whereby a user is presented with a link to place a booking when they are searching specifically for hotel prices and availability.
The main benefit for hotels is that it allows people to jump directly from the search results page to a page of each hotel’s choosing (normally the booking page), thereby cutting down any unnecessary navigation time before being given the option to pay.
This has a profound effect on User eXperience and, since it is now easier to make payment, more payments are being made.
Whats New?
This month, Google have announced they are bringing the free hotel booking links to the general Search & Maps pages. This means that when a user is just searching for a hotel (regardless of whether they have searched specifically for prices or availability) the free hotel booking links will appear.
https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/new-tools-hotels-reconnect-travelers/
You can see the kind of results you get highlighted below:
If you work at a hotel and you want to take advantage of the Free Booking Links offered by Google, you can start here:
https://support.google.com/hotelprices/answer/10694082
Vanilla Websites recommends
If you are offering accommodation, Vanilla Websites highly recommends you create a free booking link because it increases your visibility online and offers another way for your customers to reach you.
More importantly, hotels using the tool have seen an increase in bookings related to the free links and this conversion rate can be monitored for your business in Google’s Hotel Center for your business:
https://support.google.com/hotelprices/answer/9970972
Coming Soon
As of April 2022, hotels will also be able to advertise rates and availability through their (verified) Google Business Profile – assuming the hotel website has online booking enabled.
If you wish to take advantage of this additional free advertising, you can fill out an interest form here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhc7_nSjUSD9yIFj3QEStZJzkrnxMyeGYOLr0caj8LDXFd4Q/viewform
