Google’s price accuracy policy for hotels has been updated and will go into effect on October 10, 2022. Continue reading for specifics on the policy updates.
Updated Criteria
- When a user clicks through from Google’s site to the partner’s booking page, the total price on the booking page must be prominently displayed, be the same as the total price displayed on Google’s site, and be for an overnight stay (no day use rates).
- The booking page must follow our Taxes and Fees Policy, which ensures all mandatory rates, taxes, and fees are fully disclosed without requiring additional user action.
- The hotel booking flow must follow our Referral Experience Policy, which is intended to make sure there is a friendly user experience when clicking off of Google’s site.
- Refundable rates must be specified according to our refundable rates policy.
- Updated description for “At Risk” and “Failed” score categories
- Inaccurate prices may not be shown to users regardless of your price accuracy score.
- Updated “Single hotels” and “Pricing: Check your price accuracy” articles
- Violations of any of these policies, including Prohibited Practices Policy, may cause price accuracy penalties and account suspension.
We are also further clarifying our requirements for prices and taxes and fees:
Pricing updates
- Prices must be accurate and bookable online: The total price users view on a partner’s site must match what they viewed on Google for their selected itinerary and be a complete representation of the price. Users must be able to complete the booking at that price and the transaction must result in confirmed booking at the hotel within 24 hours.
- If you provide prices for multiple rooms, the rate shown on Google must match what the user is shown for the pre-selected combination of rooms on the partner website.
- Optional payments, fees, and services must not be included in the total price by default on Google or the partner site.
Taxes and fees updates
- Taxes and fees must represent all mandatory charges collected by the partner or the hotel, regardless of when they‘re due.
- For example, if a boat transfer is required to stay at the hotel, and the boat transfer fee is collected by the hotel, then that fee must be a part of the total price provided to Google.
- Resort fees must be included in the total price provided to Google.
- Taxes and fees must not be manipulated to create an artificially low base rate.
- If your taxes and fees seem unusually high compared to other partners, we may display your price as a total price even in countries where we display a base rate by default.
- Taxes and fees are intended to include mandatory hotel or government-levied taxes and fees. Our policy does not allow partner-specific fees, commissions, and profits to be excluded from the base price and solely shown in the total price.
- The total taxes and fees must be clearly disclosed on your final booking page (and ideally your landing page) without requiring additional user action. It’s recommended to include a breakdown of the individual taxes and fees.
Legacy policies (no longer valid starting October 10, 2022)
- Price Accuracy Policy
- Taxes and Fees Policy
- Referral Experience Policy
- Pricing: Check your price accuracy
- Refundable rates policy
- Review your properties or list of hotels
- Partner-reported price issues
Partners are responsible for monitoring their own price accuracy and policy compliance. We will continue reviewing partners for compliance. If a partner is found to be out of compliance, the partner will be informed and their account may be suspended until the issues are resolved.