Google has a mighty say in all things online. And therefore the greatest of impact on maximising hotel bookings. As its product developments speed ahead, it can be difficult for hotels to take time to understand them and maximise benefits. Here we take a look at some of the lesser known areas that Google can help your hotel.
1 – New opportunities with Google Maps
Is your business “on the map?” Make sure it is, because maps-oriented user interfaces are becoming as important as the traditional hierarchical list-oriented interfaces (such as SERPs) we’ve grown used to in the past 20 years.
2 – Use Google Photos to share picture stories
The best part of Google Photos is that it offers unlimited photo and video cloud storage, and apps for Android, iOS and desktop browsers. It stores high-resolution photos and can automatically categorize your photos into People, Places and Things.
3 – Use Google’s Hotel Adwords
Think about the last time you booked a hotel. Did you go directly to the hotel website? Did you visit a local travel agency? No, you didn’t. You went to Google and conducted a search to do some comparison shopping. I’m sure this isn’t always the case, but more often than not Google is the place were travelers start their hotel booking process.
4 – Create some YouTube videos to maximise reach
Full-service digital marketing and social media engagement agency Lodging Interactive says videos convey visual and emotional touch points which are present in almost every travel offering, and that is what drives bookings. Are you using video effectively?
Video content site YouTube is claiming that more than 1 billion unique users visit its website each month, spending more than 6 billion hours watching videos.
5 – Ensure your hotel is listed in Google My Business
Last year, Google launched Google My Business, an easy way for businesses to become more visible on the world’s biggest search engine.
6 – Use Google Analytics to differentiate between desktop searches and mobile
You know by now that making your website mobile friendly is essential if you don’t want to lose out on the millions of Smartphone users planning their breaks online. Once you’ve ensured that mobile users can actually access your site, it’s important to understand how they’re interacting with it.