Google My Business For Hotels

Are you a hotel owner who needs to boost there profits and occupancy rates? Google My Business for hotels will boost your bookings.

Google My Business will give you an incredible advantage if you optimise it and set it up correctly. So who is this article for? Below are the 4 audiences this article will specifically help.

1. GMB will bring benefits, even for the smallest hotel. B&Bs & Guest room owners.
2. Google My Business For Hotels will help you maximise your occupancy rate
3. Resolve issues fast, have the right guests in the right room knowing what to expect
4. Get More Guests enjoying your facilities and giving you a turn over of consistent profit

If you need details quickly then follow these links

• Get a Google My Business Hotel Overview
  
• Other Hotel Citations help GMB results
  
• How do I create a Hotel account in Google My Business & Google Maps?
  
• Use Google attributes
  
• Conclusion

Get a Google My Business Hotel Overview

It’s one thing telling someone what to do. This video will even go some way as to HOW to do it. But when you know why you do it then you are totally in the best place possible

So I’m going to give you a good reason to book a holiday. Purely from a business benefit, you need to view this as a traveller would. 

To really authenticate the experience you could even view this from another country and benefit from no cookies or previous search algorithms with the incognito view.

Any reason to explain why you need to book a holiday to the other half can’t be a bad thing.

So lets first of all cover all these things along with the complete tutorial in today’s video.

Google My Business For Hotel Owners Video Tutorial

What I would do to get in the right frame of mind

My advice before you start on Google My Business is to get a 5-minute overview of what you are trying to do.

If you are wanting to take a weekend break or a quick trip then use Google to compile a search. In that way, you will then understand the frustrations, challenges and benefits as a customer and not as a Hotel Manager

Once you fully understand it from a customers perspective, you are in the best position to optimise and register your hotel to take bookings and max out its occupancy

Understand the way Google My Business ratings as you will want to keep a keen eye on these

Add Photos and reviews

I received an email today and it highlighted some improved traffic boosts I had received, in the email from Google My Business it said: “90% of customers are more likely to visit a business that has added photos to their Google listing.” Just think that is a huge percentage and many ignore it. 

Add photos and encourage reviewers to add photos if you want to see some traction on your Hotel listing in Google. It goes without saying that hotels are one of the most photographed business locations in Google my business. In addition, photos are the biggest bringing in of organic traffic in GMB, so with great photos on a regular basis, you should see a big increase in new enquiries. Additionally, though reviews are the other missing part.

Reviews are also essential. When did you last write a review? Hotels collect review like restaurants as opinions are always formed by a customer after a visit. Hotel owners MUST respond to reviews. Google states that responding to reviews whether good or bad will improve your rating in the algorithm. 

The video below shows you in general how you can encourage visitors to leave reviews. Google wants you to actively ask for customers to review your Hotel. Often customers need to be given an extra nudge to leave a review, but if asked they are more likely to be a higher rating.

When negative Hotel reviews come along. Try to keep professional in your response. Be willing to fix any issues and see if you can encourage them to resolve the dispute offline and not through the Google reviews area.

Google Business Reviews are really important as 68% of consumers take a look before making a decision. Most business owners sit back and wait for reviews to come in rather than proactively track them down. For more details on reviews take a look at this video.

Google star rating for your Hotel. The overall rating is generated from in-house Google reviews. Reviews from third-parties such as TripAdvisor.com and Booking.com will be displayed as well but their rating isn’t factored into Google’s star rating (since not all websites follow a 5-star system).

Class ratings For your Hotel. Google gathers data for class ratings from a variety of sources including third-party partners, direct research, feedback from hoteliers. Specific class ratings can include:

• Service
• Location
• Rooms
• Amenities

Other Hotel Citations help GMB results

Take a look by searching for hotels on Google. Google has long been the king of searches and its no surprise they have got the Hotel search up and running too. Their authority online has given them the power to signup multiple hotel chains and online booking services, including Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Expedia, Hotels.com, Choice Hotels, AccorHotels and InterContinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Mirai, and Travelclick to offer an instant booking option through mobile.

In the video above we looked at Booking.com as our example

Hotel Example at Booking .com

Apartments, Hotels, Holiday Homes and Bed and Breakfast are all able to register here. The commission percentage varies by country and property type but can range between 10% and 25%. You register and let Google draw the data. 

But the more you register with, the more Google will facilitate your Hotel. Notice when you jump into Google My Business, if you have it set up correctly then you just need to refine it so it reflects accurately and the information isn’t misleading to potential booking clients.

I will assume you have your GMB set up correctly. If not then follow this process and then watch these 2 videos 

How do I create a Hotel account in Google My Business & Google Maps?

1. Visit Google My Business
2. Add your Hotel name and check to see if it already exists 
3. Verify your business 
4. Watch my 2 video tutorials below

Get Verified and Get Cracking

Once verified you can start adding the details, attributes etc. Before its verified, it still starts showing the basics on Google maps and search results. But verification is essential to fully benefit from Googles traffic.

Regarding those videos, head over to Dummies Guide to Google My Business below and then follow it up with the setup guide and adapt it as you register your hotel as a business.

Google My Business for Dummies 

Google My Business for Dummies is my ultimate guide for 2020. It has been put together with the idea of guiding you through the most basic questions on Google My Business

Setting up Google My Business For Best Results

Google my business can appear overwhelming at first especially as its seen a handful of new features. So below is a video to get you off to a great start during registration.

Use Google attributes

Google My Business attributes are constantly being updated and most businesses don’t even know what I’m talking about!. 

I’m going to show you on Google My business the importance of attributes

As this video will show it in effect will supercharge your business, even more so on Hotels

Make sure as you bring in new features to your hotel that the amenities settings and attributes are reflected correctly within your GMB Knowledge panel

What are Attibutes?

Google My Business account makes your hotel website more easily accessible by appearing within Google Search listings and reflecting your offerings and facilities. It’s ideal for matching criteria in a search result. 

How much better for a customer to search for accommodation that offers wifi and air conditioning right from the initial search. Your approved Attributes can do just that.

Happy customer means a better review, means higher ranking, more client confidence, means more paying visitors going forward

Zanet Design

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Free Wi-Fi, Fitness centre, Free breakfast, Kid-friendly, Free parking, Pet-friendly, Air-conditioned, Pool, Bar, Restaurant, Spa, Room service, All-inclusive available

Google’s guide for hotels

Head over to the support page on Google Called Google My Business guide for hotels

Conclusion

You now have all the things needed to successfully set up your hotel or rental accommodation and with an approved and verified account, bookings on Google maps should be flooding in within days.

If you respond to all hotel reviews politely and promptly, Google will provide you with a greater presence as it likes active accounts, in effect it improves customer services, which is good for visitors and means Google will be taken seriously as a competitor against the other accommodation booking companies.

Getting stuck?

You have a couple of options

I can guide you through the process using my YouTube channel 

With 4 levels to follow you are sure to find the entry-level and learn from the pros on a free Google My business video tutorial. Visit my Google My Business Management article.

To get this free course just subscribe here and you will receive the free video updates where you can follow along and learn how to keep your GMB fully optimised.

Let me Manage your Hotel online

Alternatively, you may want it managed by an affordable pro like myself – if that’s the case then head over to my Contact page and we can look at the best way to manage this for you

Also, visit https://zanet.co.uk/google-my-business-solution/ for one of my special management packages for Google My Business

What Next?

Google My Business is for those businesses that want to target local clients and customers. So it’s not just for hotel owners. If you need expert help in registering or creating a Google My Business account, then contact me at Zanet Design for me to arrange to help you.