Has anyone done Local SEO on a Dual Pad Hotel (two different hotel brands sharing the same location)?

[DanielTexasLira]

Hi Guys,

I'm in an odd pickle here. I have a client that wants me to look into a dual pad hotel, in which two hotel brands under the same company umbrella share the same physical address. Each brand has its own set of landing pages serving up similar options (homepage, dining, special events, etc.) and own GMB profile, both targeting similar keywords.

Here's an article that covers more about dual pad/branded hotels: https://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/291157/Dual-branded-hotels-come-of-age

Also here's a good example (not the hotel I'm working with):
SpringHill Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista/Palm Parkway
TownePlace Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista/Palm Parkway

And surprise-surprise, they're both competing with each other on hotel-related search terms.

My initial solution is to combine the landing pages and present them as what the property is, which is a dual-branded hotel.

Another approach is to just target specific variations of the hotel based on what unique services that each offers, like one property, can target "extended stay hotel in [city]" and the other target "hotel in [city]."

I wanted to get everyone's input on how you would approach this.

I'll update any new info that I find based on my continued research.

Best,

 

[Phil Rozek]

@DanielTexasLira, if the two hotels offer the same things and cater to the same guests, why are the two brands still separate?

I've done a little work in a similar situation (quite a while back).

My initial solution is to combine the landing pages and present them as what the property is, which is a dual-branded hotel.

That's better at least in terms of big dumb rankings and SEO strategy, mostly because you can consolidate your efforts on on-page content and earning links. Whether it's a good idea in terms of branding is a different question, though.

Another approach is to just target specific variations of the hotel based on what unique services that each offers, like one property, can target "extended stay hotel in [city]" and the other target "hotel in [city]."

That kind of divide-and-conquer strategy is great if the hotels serve somewhat different niches. But if they're both going for basically the same clientele it just won't work out. The most-likely outcome is one hotel will do a little better in at least one important respect - like it's got more and better links - and will gore the other hotel in the search results. In a situation like that minor differences can produce major discrepancies in outcomes.

 

[DanielTexasLira]

@DanielTexasLira, if the two hotels offer the same things and cater to the same guests, why are the two brands still separate?

That's the exact question I had off hand. If they are trying to combine elements/amenities from two separate brands in the same building. Why isn't it translated online? The landing pages themselves don't really highlight that the locations are dual-branded hotels. So, as of now, they're not fully transparent within their location landing pages.

That kind of divide-and-conquer strategy is great if the hotels serve somewhat different niches. But if they're both going for basically the same clientele it just won't work out. The most-likely outcome is one hotel will do a little better in at least one important respect - like it's got more and better links - and will gore the other hotel in the search results. In a situation like that minor differences can produce major discrepancies in outcomes.

Agreed.

 

[Belen C]

HI, do you the hotel share the same reception? I have similar cases for one of my clients and we were able to create both listings.
Some cases they do this thing just for comercial/marketing. Like for example one may be more exclusive or have just a few difference but with that they can charge more.

In all of the cases i had this situation (they were a lot) in every situation Google had ask me for an outside signage were it shoes the difference name of the hotels. Is for confirm of the existence of both of the businesses.

 

[DanielTexasLira]

HI, do you the hotel share the same reception? I have similar cases for one of my clients and we were able to create both listings.

I'm working on several of these now :/. So, it depends on the building layout. Some reception areas are in separate buildings, but I've also seen them combined with two check-in desks in the same lobby.

The GMB listings have already been created and verified separately, each representing its own brand, which is under the same domain.

example.com/brand-a
example.com/brand-b

 

[Phil Rozek]

@DanielTexasLira, you may want one of those hotels to use the homepage as the GMB landing page. That hotel at least will benefit from (what I presume is) the relatively good link juice of the homepage. I imagine the hotel-specific landing pages don't have the same kind of link profile.

 

[Peter Hill]

I haven't done this specifically, but I'm familar with this branding strategy and i've worked on similar situations in healthcare where we have different primary care offerings in the same building.

In my understanding the business strategy here to target to different travellers while sharing back of house expenses.

If your hotel fills two different niches (extended stay + midscale, midscale + economy, etc.) this should be pretty straightforward - two separate sites. I can't imagine that Google would have a problem with this, just send them a picture of the separate signage. Here is an example of where someone has taken an old Holiday Inn and split it into an Econolodge and Quality Inn.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Even if they are similar niches like Hampton/HGI it might be worth considering how much branded traffic you are missing if you combine them? Also consider long tail keywords that might apply for one and not the other, like "Hotel with free breakfast"?