Big Picture
For travel shoppers, finding the perfect hotel online, at the right price, is a difficult process that involves reviewing and analyzing multiple sites and toggling between tabs or windows to compare individual hotels and rates. To make it easier to find and compare hotels, Google has introduced a new experimental search tool – Hotel Finder. With Google Hotel Finder, consumers can view hotels in user-defined areas and easily compare them using one simple tool. Think of it not as anothermerchant site, but rather a comparison shopping site.
The Details
Google Hotel Finder is in its early, experimental stages with information being supplied by a limited number of OTAs and major hotel brands in the United States. Hotel Finder has four features to easily find and compare hotels:
- Users can define search area(s) by drawing shapes on a map
- Popular areas are highlighted on the map
- Users can add hotels to a shortlist to review and compare
- A hotel’s current price is compared with its average one so users can get the best deal
Once a user chooses an area and dates, hotels are listed by order of review rating, but users can choose to list hotels by hotel class, price per night, or a comparison of current price to typical price, as well. When a user clicks the “Book” button, a list of OTAs where the room can be booked – and at what price – pops up, along with a direct link to the hotel’s website. The link to the hotel’s website makes Hotel Finder yet another shopping site that acts as a direct sales channel for hotels.
Why It Matters
Google is moving into position to have a stronger presence in travel search, and if Hotel Finder is successful, they could change the landscape of online hotel bookings and bring a state of equality to the hotel booking arena. With Google’s track record of giving consumers the simple and relevant content that they want, Hotel Finder should be a powerful tool for travel shoppers.
What This Means for Your PropertyOptimize Your Digital Presence
Although Google is calling this an experiment, it’s not hard to imagine them rolling the product out permanently, given the revenue opportunity from hotel bookings. So, if you haven’t already, now is the time to implement a strong overall digital strategy. This includes:
- Optimizing Google Places and all other local listings
- Completing all available description options on OTAs and GDS with accurate and compelling content, including amenities, pictures, videos, photos and maps
- Offering available inventory
- Playing nice with all sales channels, including OTAs, because they provide potential visibility
- Providing competitive pricing and offering the best value on the direct sales channel where you prefer shoppers to book – your website
This will help ensure that your hotel appears within listings and gives an equal chance that travelers book direct via your hotel website.
Provide Feedback to Google
If your property isn’t currently listed with Hotel Finder, Google is accepting feedback about missing hotels, but they will not be actively updating the listing in this phase. In the future, Google could possibly fully integrate with Google Places, which would allow for hotels to update their information directly. Google may also try to include smaller hotels and independents, but there is no concrete plan to do so in the short term.
Read about Hotel Finder directly from Google.
If you have questions about Hotel Finder or optimizing your online presence, please contact your Account Manager or .
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This entry was posted on Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 10:14 pm and is filed under Digital IQs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.