Motel switching to Hotel

[Neal Resnik]

My client is purchasing an old run down motel and rehabbing it into a swanky hotel. The only change in name will be the switch of ABC Motel to ABC Hotel. The address will obviously remain the same but the phone number will be different.

How hard will it be to get rid of the Motel listing? The reviews of the prior motel are horrible and mention things like crack pipes! We have access to both listings ...

 

[Colan Nielsen]

If the reviews weren't a concern I would simply say, update the name on the existing GMB to reflect the minor name change. But if the reviews are a concern, you will likely need to report the old listing as permanently closed. Eventually it would drop off of maps. How long that takes is hard to say.

If the old GMB still ranks for branded searches, you can let GMB support know that this is causing confusion with customers and ask them if they can remove it or "move" it into the new GMB.

 

[Lluc]

Hi @Neal Resnik,
With the information you have provided on your client, I would strongly recommend that you request Google that they delete the old profile. In the case of hotels, marking a business as permanently closed is not the best option as it leads to many issues that you will undoubtedly have to address. To determine if you want to use the old profile, you should not only consider the reviews but also the photos that users have uploaded, which are extremely important for hotels as a conversion factor most notably on Google Travel/Hotels and Mobile.

You should also use the Q&A feature to explain that the hotel has undergone a refurbishment and is under new management. It is the only place where you can communicate with users these changes as hotels do not have Google Posts or the business description features available.

You will need to create new listings in travel directories and business listings, hotels do not have the option to write their own description. Google "writes" the description using the information from trusted sources such as TripAdvisor, Booking, etc. Make sure you change the category to "hotel" and that the star rating is consistent everywhere. A service like WhiteSpark or BrightLocal is really helpful in this case. You cannot edit your hotel's category/star rating, again Google uses different trusted sources to determine your hotel category and my experience with hotels changing categories is that it takes very long for Google to pick up on this change. I always end up contacting GMB support, it should take no more than a week for them to make the change.

It is also important that you delete the profile to avoid situations like the one below:

There are three profiles for the same hotel. For branded searches, you really want to avoid that the Hotel pack is triggered. There is no "website" option, when a user clicks on a profile they are taking to Google Hotels, where you will be competing with OTA's for the booking. It is also important that the Knowledge Panel is triggered for branded searches if you have Google Hotel Ads campaigns running. Unless you delete the other profiles, they will still appear in Google Travel/Hotels.

I hope this helps!