Google makes it free for hotels/travel cos to appear in hotel booking links

Now when users search for hotels, they will have more options for booking rooms at the best rate available. Free booking links will appear on the hotel booking module alongside hotel ads. Using free booking links, hotel and travel companies can connect with more customers and drive more bookings at no cost.


Devdiscourse News Desk | California | Updated: 09-03-2021 16:21 IST | Created: 09-03-2021 16:08 IST
Google makes it free for hotels/travel cos to appear in hotel booking links
Image Credit: Google
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Google is making it free for hotels and travel companies around the world to appear in hotel booking links, the company announced on Tuesday.

Up until now, hotel booking links were offered via Hotel Ads that display real-time pricing and availability for specific dates of travel. While hotel ads are paid links, ranked according to Google's ad auction, free booking links are unpaid links that are ranked according to their utility to users.

Now when users search for hotels, they will have more options for booking rooms at the best rate available. Free booking links will appear on the hotel booking module alongside hotel ads. 

"For all hotels and travel companies, this change brings a new, free way to reach potential customers. For advertisers, free booking links can extend the reach of existing Hotel Ads campaigns. Our testing of this new feature shows that all partner types - from individual hotels to online travel agents - benefit from free booking links through increased booking traffic and user engagement." Google wrote in a blog post.

Beginning this week, any hotel or travel company can participate via their Hotel Center account. Those already participating in Hotel Ads are automatically eligible to show as free booking links.

Using free booking links, hotel and travel companies can connect with more customers and drive more bookings at no cost.

Furthermore, Google said that it will continue to improve the onboarding process for new partners on Hotel Center. Over the coming months, the search giant will introduce tools allowing individual hotels to provide their rates and availability directly, without complex technical requirements.

"Today's update is part of our larger effort to ensure people have access to all offers available to them by providing free and easy ways for businesses to connect with people on Google. Over time, we'll continue building this open platform, so that all partners will have even more opportunities to highlight their information and help people book a flight, find a place to stay, or explore a new destination," Google said.

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