Google Hotel Booking Questions

[Thomas MyLocal]

When you find a hotel Knowledge Graph, it normally has a blue button saying "BOOK A ROOM".

1/ Who determines which booking services appear when you click on the button?

2/ If the hotel has its own booking system, is it possible for that to be included? If so can it be included as the first one on the list?

3/ Is it possible to remove a booking service if you do not wish them to take bookings for your hotel?

I would be most grateful for any answers to these questions.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Thomas,

I decided to open a new thread with a more descriptive title because adding to that thread about
"GMB Listings for Vacation Rentals Replaced by 'Hotel' Finder Listings" didn't seem close enough to get you what you need.

You need someone to catch this thread that's really dealt with or knows about Google Hotel Booking issues, specifically. (That's not me) So hopefully someone weighs in.

 

[elwalker]

It does seem there is an information black hole regarding hotel finder and now vacation rental finder replacing the GMB 3 pack. As far as I can find out, so far, we need to sign up to a major partner such as booking.com to get listed in the finder, which is really annoying and costly when a hotel or accommodation company already has their own booking engine and does not want to pay commission to the big players. I'm all up for paying to 'advertise' in this space but not by up to 20% of revenue.

Has anyone found a way in without breaking the bank?

 

[Suleyman Okan]

I use HotelRunner for my clients. They charge a fraction of their competitors and do Google Hotel Ads.

 

[Thomas MyLocal]

Is Hotel Runner an official partner of Google's and therefore available on the blue button to Book Now in the Knowledge Graph? I haven't seen it listed as such.

This review site doesn't seem to give it much of a boost if it is the same system that you refer to - HotelRunner Reviews - 7 Reviews of Hotelrunner.com | Sitejabber

 

[Suleyman Okan]

Yes, they most certainly do (see screenshot below).

Though I was wrong on the cheapness factor. They are very competitive in their reservation management commission pricing, but for Google Hotel Ads they seem to be charging 15%.

 

[Thomas MyLocal]

Thanks Suleyman.

I have done some digging around and found some useful videos produced by Google which explains the process, for example, this one. It would appear that an individual hotel can be included under the blue button referred to in earlier posts but it requires technical knowledge. That is why so many prefer to partner with other booking engines who take care of the technical bits.