Important new features in Promoted Hotels of Google Hotel Ads
Google has relaunched its Promoted Hotels, including a new design of its search results by destination,
among other significant improvements. This is very relevant, 
because users mostly seek accommodation in a specific destination.
For example, if a user searches for “Hotels in Madrid,” he will see a screen of organic and paid results, similar to the right image.
What stands out on this page is the Hotel section, which allows the user to refine the filters by entry dates, number of guests, price, etc.
Once the filters are defined, we turn to a page that shows all the available hotels, in a list form and also on a map. Here is where Promoted Hotels come into play.
The first two positions in searches by destination, both on the Travel page and on Maps that are highlighted with the “Ad” tag, are called Promoted Hotels.
To date, although these two spaces are highlighted with the “Ad” label, it is not yet possible to bid to occupy them, since this product is in the test phase and at the moment only the selected connectivity partners can benefit from Its remarkable visibility.
At Roiback, as Google Premium Partners, we are in this list of pioneers in offering this product, currently and until the end of the test phase, at no additional cost for our hotels.
How do Promoted Hotels work?
When making a search by destination on Maps, the list of hotels appears on the left, the Promoted Hotels occupying the first two positions followed by other hotels arranged according to the organic results.
When clicking on a Promoted Hotel, the normal result of Google HA is displayed with a key improvement to highlight, only the result of the partner that is positioned in Promoted Hotel is visible:
The rest of the prices of other advertisers are under the “View more prices” link.
In the searches by destination that are carried out from the normal Search page, the list of hotels positioned in an organic way also appears:
By clicking on them, they redirect you to the Travel page, where the Promoted Hotels are already appearing even more prominently:
When clicking on the “Compare prices” button, you get to the Travel page called “Sponsored” where hotel information is displayed and, again, only the price of the partner that occupies the position of Promoted Hotels is visible:
Remaining the rest of the prices of other advertisers under the link "More information about this hotel."
Once this test phase is finished, hotels will be able to create a special campaign to CPC model in order to bid for these exclusive positions in the Search by Destination listings.
The first click on the Promoted Hotels ad will be free and will only be paid if the customer ends up clicking on the partner's ad in the normal results of Google HA campaigns.
At Roiback we believe that these types of campaigns can help hotels, punctually in more generic search campaigns by destination, to obtain great visibility and enhance the results of their Google HA campaigns.
As for the changes that Google has made in the new design of searches by destination, it is worth mentioning that it maintains the filtering options, as well as the search function and map navigation, but the design and size of the hotel list have changed.
The size of the list of hotels has expanded considerably, which allows to give much more visibility and relevance to Promoted Hotels. In addition, fewer hotels are now included in the initial list which gives even more importance to the first two positions, the Promoted Hotels.
EVELYN BARBA
Metasearch Marketing & Analytics Manager
Evelyn has more than 15 years of experience in travel industry and she’s a specialist in online marketing and international electronic commerce.
