Your brand name on Google
Vacation rental managers with any number of rentals can now send traffic from Google Travel directly to their website. Be it the direct reservation statistics you want to increase, the guest experience you want to improve or the company image you want to build - putting your own brand on Google Travel helps you with all of these.
So called traffic redirect for Google Travel works through driving your future guests to book stays with you through your own website.
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Custom logo and brand name
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"Official webiste" badge
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Commission-free bookings via your own website
Since the traffic goes directly to your website, you can utilise more acquisition strategies to help you get more bookings, including presenting similar listings, newsletter sign-ups and re-marketing. With the Rentals United connection, the traffic from Google Travel comes at no additional cost per click. Read about all the benefits in this insightful blog post.
Benefits of your personal brand
By connecting to Google Travel and setting up the redirect, you will unlock the following benefits for your business:
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targeted traffic generated by Google Travel
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commission-free direct bookings
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improved brand recognition
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increased visibility
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access to analytics and insights
Requirements before you start
By default, when a guest clicks the Website button on Google Travel, they will be redirected to the Rentals United Book Direct page. If you already own a website with instant booking capabilities, you can easily replace the Book Direct page with your actual website. Below you can find a step-by-step guide on how to configure the Google Travel to start sending the traffic directly to your website - see Your brand name on Google.
Google Travel connection
You must have an account in Rentals United and your properties need to be distributed on Google Travel.
Website and HTTPS
You need to have your own website that allows guests to make instant bookings. Your website needs to be accessed in a secure manner via HTTPS and your property images also need to be served via HTTPS.
URL parameters
When a potential guest clicks the Website button on your Google Travel listing, they will be redirected to your website. Your website needs to support URL parameters in order for Rentals United to use them to send the guest to your website with correct property, stay dates and price displayed. Required parameters are: property ID, arrival date, departure date, number of guests.
Your guests from Google Travel will most likely land on a page with address like this one: www.yourwebsite.com/property/12345?arrival=2021-09-30&departure=2021-10-04&guests=4, where:
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12345 - is the ID of the property in your system
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arrival - is the arrival date
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departure - is the departure date
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guests - is the number of guests
Once the guest lands on your website, they should see the Property 12345 with the total price for 4 guests staying from Sep 30 to Oct 4, 2021. In case you are not sure if your website can work that way, check this with your IT department.
Price accuracy
Once the guest lands on your website, the price they see must be the same as they saw on Google Travel. Google Travel monitors the price accuracy and may penalise listings if the rates on Google Travel and the landing page do not match. For simplicity, we recommend that you do not mark up your prices for Google Travel in Rentals United.
Compliance with Google Travel policies
Your website is required not to take part in any practices prohibited by Google Travel. See Google Travel prohibited practices policy here.
Logo requirements
Google Travel will display your logo next to your listings in the Google Travel website. Your logo has to fulfil the below requirements:
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Resolution of at least 72 x 72 pixels
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Square dimensions only
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No more than three text characters per icon
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PNG format
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Transparent or on a non-white background
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No alcohol, violence or sexual content
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Must match the favicon or artwork on the advertiser’s final URL
Set-up process
Please contact