Google
is taking steps that further blur the line between hotels and private accommodation.
The search giant says the search for “beach rentals” and “places to stay” has grown more than 100% worldwide in the last year, and now it wants to better serve that interest by combining vacation rentals and hotels into one comprehensive destination search result.
Starting today, consumers looking for accommodations in a specific travel destination can see both hotels and vacation rentals in the search results of google.com/travel.
The “Vacation Rentals” filter, introduced in 2019, continues to apply to users who only want to limit the results to non-hotel properties. Without this filter, both types of accommodation are shown in the standard display.
According to Google, the results are organically classified according to relevance to the user’s query. The company wouldn’t provide a list of current delivery partners, but searches on the site show listings from Tripadvisor, Vacasa, Red Awning, Sonder, Rentals United, and others.
Vrbo listings had been on the site for almost two years, but theirs Call for prizes in FebruaryPeter Kern, Expedia Group CEO, announced that the company pulled them, saying, “We didn’t find the investment in the Google vacation rental product particularly incremental, we didn’t find the customer experience particularly valuable, and of course we have a time in which we see large direct traffic for Vrbo. So we’ve found other ways, and I would say there are more profitable ways to get traffic. “
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It is currently unclear whether properties from Booking.com and Airbnb will participate in the search for vacation rentals.
Google announced the new combined hotel and vacation rental search product on Thursday morning during its Google Marketing Live online event.
“We have seen a growing and sustained interest in vacation rentals since the beginning of the pandemic, and we have developed our product accordingly to meet these user preferences. This launch is the first time we’ve shown results that combine both hotels and vacation rentals when a user searches for accommodation, ”a company spokesperson said via email.
Rental’s profile continues to grow
This new update is just the latest in Google’s evolving vacation rental-related search services.
Google started first Appearance of vacation rentals in March 2019 Adding the Vacation Rentals filter to the hotel search on google.com/travel and adding a Vacation Rentals unit to results for queries such as Boston Vacation Rentals.
Last summer, Google updated the system so that anyone who uses the filter is directed to a new Vacation Rentals tab at google.com/travel, which can also be used to search for these listings directly. Today’s update brings vacation rentals to search results for general accommodations on google.com/travel.
Google’s search result data on vacation rental-related searches mimics trends seen elsewhere. Brands like Airbnb and Vrbo have seen it Demand surge last year Some travelers have been looking for private, socially distant accommodations.
research out this week from Deloitte Finds over a quarter (28%) of travelers who stayed in a private rental property for the first time during the pandemic or are planning this summer. And eight in ten people who choose a rental for their 2021 summer vacation expect they will stay in a rental for at least half of their future trips.
However, many consumers are considering both hotels and rentals – which means the Google update should be good news for them.
Deloitte notes that rental travelers are more likely to do cross-shop deals. 53% say they also consider hotels, while only 15% of hotel travelers consider rentals.
Along with updates to vacation rental ads in Search, Google now automatically displays the feed data for hotel ads in the Search Text Ads Extensions.
For hotel advertisers, this means that things like landing page, hotel, price, and availability are pulled from their existing feed and used in search campaigns. According to Google, the extension is currently only available to a limited group of advertisers and will be rolled out more widely in the coming weeks.
Google is also updating its Pay-per-stay program, also known as the commission program (per stay) was launched last June to help ad partners manage cancellation risk.
To make reconciliation easier, Google Ads provides a per-booking report that hoteliers can use to confirm which bookings have been canceled and which have remained. Advertisers can also view performance metrics after the cancellation.
Later this year, Google will roll out bid adjustment support for pay-per-stay campaigns so advertisers can adjust prices based on dimensions such as day of check-in or date of stay.
