What would our lives be like without Google?
Ever since the world wide web took over, online research has become a necessity, almost a reflex. We use it for school, for work, for our own entertainment. And to be honest, we don’t even stop and think about it. Looking up information on the web feels like the most natural thing in the world.
Hospitality makes no exception. Sites like Google continue to create ways to fit into all phases of the traveler’s search-shop-buy experience. Starting as a search engine, it is now so much more than that and hotels should pay attention.
Hotel Visibility on Google
The importance of hotel presence on Google is definitely not something to be disputed. Studies show that 81% of travelers prefer using Google during their travel/accommodation search process. This is why it’s imperative to make sure that your hotel has a high visibility on Google. This can he boosted by mastering rich snippets, UX and SEO.
Picture it like this: when a customer is browsing for a certain product online, or in hospitality’s case, a certain hotel, if the result is right in front of him, it fits his needs and expectation, provides just enough information and saves him time, it’s only logical that the customer would be more inclined to making the purchase/booking the hotel.
Booking on Google
In the last few years, Google has made its way into the travel industry and made a big impact on it by implementing a revolutionary feature in 2015: bookings on Google. The reason behind this was that mobile bookings were increasing and hotels were having a hard time getting consumers to book via mobile devices. So, instead of redirecting them to another website, Google came up with a way of going through the entire booking process without leaving their platform.
