A 'Duffers' Guide to Google Hotelads

You know instinctively that many of your guests start their search for your hotel, or a hotel in your area on Google, and it pains you to see that all the OTA's (Online Travel Agents) are advertising your rooms rates on Google.....but not your own website. NOT ANYMORE!!

You can now have rates from your own (GuestDiary) website displayed alongside the OTA's, potentially pulling business direct onto your own website, saving costly commissions and helping your hotels profitability.

Is this Google becoming an OTA (Online Travel Agent)?

Google would probably argue 'NOT' as the booking is routed through the websites own booking engine, they are simply displaying the rates from all the OTA's ie Like Trivago or TripAdvisor.

How does it work?

First of all you need to have a Booking Engine that is connected to Google Hotelads (ie GuestDiary.com)

What do i have to do?

You can ask your Marketing Company to set up a GoogleAdwords Account and a GoogleHotelAd

How do i pay for this?

When the Account is created you will be asked by Google to enter a credit card.

What does it cost?

You can decide how much commission you want to pay, ie 10% (which is typically 5% less than anything the OTA's - Online Travel Agents charge), BUT because the booking is routed through your Booking Engine there may be a Booking Engine commission to pay also.

Any catches?

At the time of writing (June 2021) there is no easy way to account for bookings that are subsequently cancelled ie You still have to pay Google the 10% commission, therefore it probably makes more sense to set up just 'None Refundable' rateplans for advertising on GoogleHotelads. (As these are normally cheaper it will also have the advantages of making your website look cheapest on Google Hotelads).