March 12, 2021 2 min read

Thinking ahead, Google introduced a new policy on its travel platform Google Travel in which hotels and travel companies can now appear for free in booking links.

This means that the beneficiaries will not have to pay the search engine for the transactions carried out by travelers.

Users will be able to explore, flights, hotels and vacations, and will have the opportunity to reserve and pay for their accommodation without incurring a cost per transaction for the hotels or places that travelers choose for their accommodation.

All of this seems to be aimed at boosting the tourism industry once travel is safe again. In a statement, the company explained that, when travel is resumed, it will be essential that people can find the information they need to easily contact online travel agencies.

The multinational company explained that they have long helped travelers find accommodation by offering hotel booking links through Hotel Ads, and that both users and partners have found it quite useful.

For this reason, they are now “enhancing this experience” by allowing hotels and travel companies around the world to appear for free in these booking links, starting this week.

“For all hotels and travel companies, this change provides a new, free way to reach potential customers. For advertisers, free booking links can extend the reach of existing Hotel Ads campaigns,” Google explained in the statement.

Who will be the beneficiaries of this new Google Travel strategy?

Those who already participate in the Hotel Pricing API and its advertisements do not need to take any additional action to appear in the free booking links. Likewise, they commented that any hotel or travel company is eligible to participate through their Hotel Center account.