What Is Google My Business? How and Why Should Small Hotels Also Be Listed?

People look for almost everything over Google! Whether you are looking for the cheapest flight or a comfy and affordable hotel, Google has answers for all. A hotel business, in specific, needs an optimal marketing approach and Google My Hotel Businessis just the right tool for it.

But have you ever wondered what every company does to come up in the top ranking order of Google’s listing of businesses?

They take the privilege of the free tool Google My Business and rank up in the listing. It is for small and medium businesses to list their brands over the search engine to let customers find them.

Is it just for any specific business niche? No! It is quite favorable for businesses of all types.

Google My Business is very profitably used by the hotel sector. The hospitality industry is one such vital sector leveraging maximum profitability out of this tool.

In fact, there are numerous small- and medium-sized hotels on record that have already listed their names over this tool. It is more like Google My Hotel Businesslisting in specific.

But why?

It is time to find out the same! Following that, this article will help beginner hoteliers put up their brand names on that list. Keep reading till the end!

What Is Google My Business?

Before taking you into the statistical journey of how the hospitality sector is maximizing the use of Google My Business, it becomes important to get you a glimpse at what this tool actually is.

Google My Business or GMB is a platform by Google for businesses to connect with their customers without hassle.

As per Google’s norms, the focus of GMB is to get all of the businesses online. Small hotel businesses have seen a massive jump in their success rate with this initiative by the tech giant.

Google is a highly preferable search engine across the globe. And this is what makes businesses walk on the path of profitability by just listing their brand names over it.

Therefore, this is the ideal tool for you to share the details of your business, photos, location, products, and services.

Moreover, it is free for you to create a Google business profile. Your business will get high visibility across all Google services, such as Google Maps, Google Shopping, and Google search.

Why Is Google My Business Important for Hotels?

A Google My Business Insights Study by bright local surveyed 45,000 Google My Business profiles from 36 different industries.

This study was to determine the industries that were technically and statistically outperforming others.

Car dealership businesses performed the best, while the hospitality industry was the second-best performer in the Google My Business listings.

The hospitality industry includes hotels, restaurants, cafés, bars, and pubs. In this survey, hotels have the maximum views over the maps and search results of Google.

Travelers won’t stop touring countries at any cost. As per the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, an estimated count of 54 million tourists crossed international borders as of July 2021.

The count has been down by 67% since 2019, but it is due to COVID and its frightening impact. But still, the count is big enough to flood the search engine with queries about the best hotels, bars, and pubs in their touring countries.

The year 2022 is witnessing a peak of travelers across international borders. And that means more demand for hotels in the coming time.

Not every traveler has the budget to book their stay in premium hotels; some look for local accommodations.

Therefore, it becomes important for small hotels to get listed on Google My Business and be found by the right audience.

With the help of GMB, many small accommodation providers are now able to take online bookings with higher visibility than ever. As it is free to use, every hotelier, irrespective of the business size, must invest time in it.

How to Get a Small Hotel Business Listed Over Google My Business?

As a small hotel business, it is important you get your business on Google right away! But how?

It is time you learn the steps on how to set up your Google My hotel Business listing.

The steps are as follows:

1. Access Business Profile Manager and find ‘Manage Now’ on the top-right edge.
2. Log into your Google Account or sign up for one if you don't already have it.
3. Enter your hotel’s name and then click on ‘Next.’
4. Now, enter the address of your hotel and then click on ‘Next.’ You will be prompted to geo-locate your hotel on the map.
5. Select the category of your business under the ‘Business Category’ sector, and move to ‘Next’.
6. Enter the hotel's website URL and phone number and move to the next step.
7. Mention the working hours.
8. Use high-quality photographs to create a visual appeal for your hotel. You can add 12 pictures at max to your Google My Business listing.
9. Submit all of the details, and your listing will be ready.
10. The next step is to verify your connection to the hotel. Click on ‘Continue’ to initiate the same.
11. Now, select a verification option.
12. You need to verify the hotel’s profile before you can start managing and optimizing the listing.
13. If the business profile over Google has already been verified, you can request ownership. Follow the necessary steps for the same.

Now your Google My hotel Business listing is complete!

Now that you have the listing ready, you might need to learn the optimizing strategies to rank up your presence across the search engines. Here are a few evident strategies for you to commence with it:

1. The information offered should be accurate to the best of your knowledge.
2. You need to check on the accuracy of the location for your hotel over the listing.
3. Make sure you have your website and link it to the listing. If you don’t have one, GMB will create one for you, but it is better to have one of your own.
4. Do not miss out on adding the Q/A section over the listing. People need common answers to connect with your hotel over others.
5. Try and collect more reviews and act upon them.
6. Get the GMB analysis and use it to improve your service and marketing aspects.

Parting Words

Google My Business listings are excellent in directing more customers to your business. Small hotels often get side-tracked by the premium ones in their locality.

But with the right optimization and promotion over the listing profile, you can ensure equal visibility at all times. You just need to focus on highlighting your USPs over the business description in your listing.

Count on making the perfect optimization and make your small hotel business stand out!

AxisRooms Editorial Desk

AxisRooms, a software suite provider for the hospitality industry, is committed to aiding your business growth, not just with our state-of-the-art products and services, but also with the latest updates from the travel and hospitality industry. Got something to say? Write to us at: [email protected]