This page provides answers to common questions about how users search online for hotels, and how you can manage your hotel photos, reviews, and descriptions.
Hotel searches on Google
How do users search and book hotels on Google?
People use Google Search to find, compare, and book hotels on any device. They can use filters like price, location, ratings, and hotel class to narrow your search.
How does Google determine rankings in hotel search results? How can I improve my ranking?
Google tries to find the most relevant hotels for every search. The rankings of hotel search results are determined by relevance, distance, and prominence. There's no way to buy or request a better ranking, but the quality of information about your hotel could affect your ranking. Learn how to improve your local ranking on Google
Hotel photos
Where do the photos of my hotel come from?
Google gathers images of hotels from multiple sources. Some of the main places photos can come from include, but aren't limited to:
- Google Maps Streetview and 360
- Google users
- Professional photographers
- Hotel owners
- Third-party providers including other Hotel Ads advertisers
How can I add photos to my hotel listings?
After you verify your hotel listing Google Business Profile, upload photos in either JPG or PNG format for desktop or mobile. Be sure to also follow the correct sizing and best practice guidelines for local business photo uploads.
How do I fix issues with photos?
There are different processes for fixing issues with photos that depend on where you find them on Google. Learn how to troubleshoot issues with photos on Google Streetview, user-submitted photos, and hotel owner-submitted photos.
Hotel reviews
How do I report an issue with a review for my hotel that's displayed on Google, but attributed to a third-party source (e.g., Expedia.com)?
Google receives reviews directly from a variety of third-party partners. If you discover an issue with one of these partner reviews, please reach out to the partner directly to get the review corrected on the original site. After the partner has published the corrected review, it'll be reflected on Google.
What are the benefits of having reviews on Google?
The more reviews you have on Google, the better you can reach travelers searching for hotels on Google. One of the main benefits of reviews is that they appear next to your listing on Maps and Search across desktops, tablets, and mobile devices, which can help your business stand out on Google.
How do I get more reviews on Google?
Create and share a link guests can use to leave a review. Here’s how the review process works:
- When guests check out, invite them to leave a review on Google. Consider creating a short link or Quick Response (QR) code that makes it easy for users to get to your review page.
- After check out, follow up with guests and send a reminder in any of your post-stay communications.
- Finally, allow guests to easily submit a Google review via a post-stay guest satisfaction survey from Customer Alliance, Medallia, Revinate, ReviewPro, or TrustYou.
For more information, see Get reviews on Google.
How do I create a direct link for guests to leave a review for my hotel?
Go to the Google Places API to find the Place ID for your hotel. Next, follow these step-by-step directions to create a direct, shareable review link.
How should I respond to reviews?
In general, keep your responses to reviews helpful, clear, and courteous. Learn more about how to manage reviews
Can old reviews be removed if I recently made improvements to my hotel?
In most cases, old reviews can't be removed. If your hotel changes meet specific criteria, such as a change in ownership or physical location, you may be able to remove your review. Learn more about moving reviews across listings
Hotel descriptions and amenities
Where do the hotel descriptions in the Hotel details section come from?
Hotel descriptions are summaries created by Google’s internal team of writers to give users at-a-glance information about your hotel.
Where does the review summary come from?
Google uses hotel review summaries from TrustYou, a third-party review service for some hotel listings. TrustYou creates review summaries and aggregates scores using reviews for your hotels from across the web.
How are user rating scores in the review summary calculated?
Businesses receive user ratings on a 1-5 star scale. A 5-star rating generally means that the reviewer loved their experience with the hotel or business and a 1-star rating means the opposite. The overall rating is based on user ratings and other signals to make sure that it best reflects the quality of your hotel. Note, these ratings are different from hotel class ratings. Learn more about business ratings
How are hotel class ratings calculated?
Google assigns hotel class ratings on a 1-5 star scale and allows people to filter their hotel search based on type (“any” or “vacation rental”) and class. Google gathers data for these ratings from a variety of sources, including third-party partners, direct research, feedback from hoteliers, and machine learning inference that examines and evaluates hotel attributes, such as price, location, room size, and amenities. A two-star hotel may have modest rooms and economy pricing, while a four-star hotel might feature upscale decor, a dedicated concierge, 24-hour room service, and luxury amenities such as bathrobes and minibars.
Hotels that do not show a class rating have not yet been evaluated by Google.
How do I edit my hotel amenities?
Google provides a summary of your hotel’s amenities that customers can view from Search and Maps. You can edit this information in your dashboard if you find any of it to be factually incorrect. If you’re unable to change this information due to an error or some other issue, contact us and we’ll be able to assist you. Learn more about how to manage your hotel details