Google Ads for Hotels: How Can You Take Advantage of it?

Running a profitable hospitality business goes beyond having a comfortable hotel and the regular daily routines that go into maintaining it. You need to market it, and put it in front of the right people – and that’s where Google Ads for hotels comes in.

If Google Ads are properly used, you’d gain more visibility, and be positioned on the front page of Google’s Search Engine Result Page. And if you want to generate the most results, you should use additional services like Google Maps.

But what are Google Hotel Ads, and what are the advantages of using advertising for a hotel? Well, you’d discover all these and more in this guide.

What Are Google Hotel Ads?

Google operates a metasearch engine that integrates into other Google services like the AI-powered Google Assistant, Google Maps services, and the main search engine. This metasearch engine is called Google Hotel Ads. Having been launched in 2011, the service was previously known as the Google Hotel Finder – and it’s designed to help users discover hotel and room availability by merely entering search queries.

Google Hotel Ads helps customers to make quick comparisons, and gain access to various booking platforms so customers could choose the room that best fits their needs.

What Are The Advantages Of Using Advertising For A Hotel?

Aside from the increased visibility you’d get by using Google Ads for hotels, it could also be a great way that helps you to optimize your revenue and also manage your hotels effectively.

Here are other advantages of using Google Ads for hotels.

1-Attract Travelers Searching for a Hotel in a Specified Area:

Google is a great place to begin your search for a hotel – and many travelers make use of the opportunity. As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to position your brand in such a way it could reach such people. To do that, you’ve got to consider Google Ads for hotels.

The Google Hotel Ads should include vital information like the hotel name, room price, and also links to the booking engine. This way, the customer not only gets to know about the room, but the customer could pretty much make reservations without much effort. There’s an option of customizing your setting in such a way that ads are displayed only when rooms are available.

2-Increase the Number of Direct Bookings Your Hotel Generates:

With Google Ads for hotels, customers can easily compare prices of rooms from various platforms – and if you’re doing a good job, your hotel website may be included in one of the options. With the right setup, you can easily boost the number of people who visit your hotels. It’s okay to keep using online travel agencies – but you’d likely pay commissions. If you opt for Google Ads for hotels, there will be no need for commissions, and you’ll likely retain the revenue generated from your bookings.

3-Gain Control Over All Aspect of the Customer Journey:

Travel agencies tend to get involved in the customer journey. However, you can eliminate the involvement of third parties by using Google Ads for hotels. With Google Ads for hotels, you’re involved with your customer right from the beginning, and you get to control most things from bookings, logistics, and everything in-between. This way, you can easily up-sell and cross-sell, and also maintain quality customer service.

4-Benefits From Increased Access to Customer Information:

Google Ads for hotels gives you direct access to customer information like their contact information. If your customers opt for online travel agencies, getting their information from them may be an issue, and it could limit the level of communication you have with them before, during, and after their stay at your hotel. If you’ve got your customer’s contact information, you can easily up-sell, cross-sell, and also manage your reputation.

Where Does Your Hotel Appear in Google?

Using Google Ads for hotel service means your hotels will gain visibility across various Google platforms. Speaking of platforms, here are some platforms you’ll appear on when using Google Ads for hotels.

1-Google Search:

When a search query is entered, your hotel will most likely appear on Google Search Engine Result Pages. Users can easily see relevant information like the hotel name, days of availability, and make a comparison before settling on their preferred choice.

2-Google Maps:

Your hotel will show up when users make hotel-related queries on Google Maps. Aside from showing up on Google Maps, your customers get the option to learn more or book for your hotels using the platform. That’s not all, your hotel’s location gets to be displayed on the map – and that can be a good thing if your location is one of your USPs.

3-Google Home or Google Assistant:

Everything has evolved – and that includes how users make search queries. Nowadays, users get to make queries by using voice or typed commands. Some users use the Google assistant by using voice commands like “show me a hotel in New York”. Ads relevant to the Google Hotel Ads will be displayed – and having your hotel among these is a great plus.

4-Google Hotel Search:

You should also position your hotel in such a way that it’s displayed on the Google Hotel Search platform. With the service, users can easily enter their destination or the hotel name, and also provide vital details like the number of guests, or the number of days they want to stay. Google gets to display results relevant to their search.

How Do I Write A Hotel Ad?

The main objective of hotel advertising is to grow a business. But there is more to it than business growth. Hotels can boost their customer awareness, communicate their business values, and pretty much highlight other things using advertising. And if you’re looking for a reliable way of standing out from your competition and communicating your unique selling points, then advertising is your best shot. Good advertising boosts customer loyalty – and if you’re pondering on the elements of good advertising, then you’ve got to consider the following;

• The hotel’s name, origin, and location
• Pinpoint what sets you apart
• Use symbols, visualizations, and patterns that communicate your outcomes
• Think of ways of filling the patterns, symbols, or icons with things that are specific to your hotel or brand
• Highlight the key features the hotel offers to your guest
• You need a logbook that records the key events and quotes about your staff – and these could be the starting point for future campaigns.

How Do I Create A Google Hotel Campaign?

If you want to manage your budgets and hotel Ads bids across various campaigns, then you’ve got to get a full grasp of Hotel campaigns. You’ve got to target various hotels and user countries, and that will, in turn, help you select various bid strategies and offer detailed information to your users. To create a Google Hotel campaign, you’ve got to follow these steps.

• Sign in to a Google Ads account
• Click on the Campaigns icon found in the page menu
• For goal type, choose to create a campaign without a goal’s guidance and click on the Continue icon
• For campaign type, choose Hotel and click on the continue icon
• Choose your linked Hotel Center account.

If you’re new in the industry or new to hotel campaigns, you’ve got to integrate your hotel rates and list them in the Hotel center. Alternatively, you can get one of your integration partners to create a Hotel center account for you. Afterward, link your hotel list and rates to the Hotel Center account.

The next step is to choose the advertising preference of your choice:

• Campaign name: Choose a campaign name. The name is what you’d use to search for your campaign. There is an option for changing the name once the campaign has been created
• Bidding: Choose your preferred bidding type. You’ve got to know how to choose the right bidding strategy that works for you
• Budget: How much do you want to spend on your campaign? Always choose the bid amount you’re comfortable with
• Networks: Google Search Network is the only place where Hotel campaigns are showcased
• Devices: Ads are usually displayed on all device types. Whether your target audience is using mobile devices or computers, you’re sure of reaching them. However, you can adjust your device bids
• Locations: It’s the setting that lets you customize your user location. There’s an option of changing the setting after creating the campaign

To proceed, you’ve got to Save and continue.

To create an ad group, you’ve got to provide information like;

• Ad group name: Choose your preferred Ad group name. That’s the name you’d use while finding the group. There’s the option of changing the name after creating the ad group
• Bid: Choose the bid for the ad group. Once you create an ad group, the All hotels group will be automatically created, and your first bid will be applied to it. There’s the option of changing the bid after creating the campaign.
• Click on the Save icon.

How does PPC Signal Help You Manage Your Hotel Ads?

As a business owner, generating leads from your campaign is arguably your primary goal. By running PPC campaigns, you get to drive customers to your business. Furthermore, you’ve got to keep a close eye on your campaign to see how they are performing – and that’s where tools like the PPC Signal tool come in. With the PPC Signal tool, you can easily identify what’s wrong with your campaign, and why they are not converting.

That’s not to say that you cannot track these metrics manually. But opting to manually track these metrics won’t cut it – it takes lots of time and effort to do that. But you can eliminate that by using the PPC Signal tool.

Let’s say you’re running a campaign for your hotel, and you want to track metrics like clicks, all you’ve got to do is navigate to the metrics and choose the metrics. An automated signal will be displayed on your screen – and that will pretty much tell you everything you need to know about your campaign. Also, you get to see other things that are wrong with your campaign.

Moving on, there is the option of drawing more insights from your campaign by using the explore option.

From the signal, you get to see the anomaly in your data. You’re generating lots of clicks without recording enough conversions. Therefore, you’ve got to improve your landing pages and CTAs. To get more insights into your campaign data, click on the explore icon.

There is also an option of showcasing the data in a tabular form.

From the data above, you can see that your ad is generating 180 clicks with about 3 conversions – and that’s not good. It shows something is wrong somewhere, but you can improve it by adding more relevant keywords on your landing pages. With the PPC Signal tool, you get to optimize your campaign and focus on what’s important.

FAQs:

Does Google have a hotel booking site?

There is a booking module that appears within the Google Hotel Search on the details page, and users get to book rooms using the Book feature.

What are hotel OTAs?

OTAs  means Online Travel Agencies or Online Tour Operators, are third-party websites that are used for online distribution, generating brand exposure for your hotel.

Why is advertising important for hotels?

Advertising is arguably the best way hotels get to communicate their unique selling points, and also stand out from the crowd of competition. Also, good advertisements boost customer loyalty.

Is Google Hotel Ads an OTA?

Yes, Google Hotel Ads is arguably an OTA (online travel agencies). It comes with lots of features including the feature that lets your customers book directly through their platform.

Wrap Up:

Being a dominant player in the search engine industry, Google should be the clear favorite for hotel owners and business managers who are looking to drive more customers to their business. Using Google Ads is quite alright, but if you’re looking for a more targeted option, then Google Hotel Ads should be your go-to platform.

Moving on, you get to get the most out of the platform by monitoring your campaigns with tools like the PPC Signal tool. With the PPC Signal tool, you get to manage multiple campaigns all from a single place.

Finally, Google Ads for hotels is a good choice for people who are looking to avoid the commission fee that is applicable with travel agencies.

Here comes the big question, how will you use Google Hotel Ads to boost your online presence?