Google booking links¶
When someone looks your hotel up on Google Search or Google Maps, Google shows a list of places to book it — usually Booking.com, Agoda and the rest, each with a price. With Google booking links switched on, your own booking page is one of those rows, with your own price, and a guest who taps it lands on your booking engine with their dates already filled in.
There is no cost per click, no commission on the booking, and nothing to set up on Google's side beyond your Business Profile. Zitlin sends Google your prices and availability for you, automatically.
We switch this on for you
Google checks every price it is sent against your booking page, and it judges every hotel Zitlin sends on the result. So a property goes on Google only after the Zitlin team has checked it is ready. Ask from Settings → Admin → Direct Bookings → Google free booking links → Ask Zitlin to switch it on, or write to support.
Before you ask¶
Google needs to know your hotel is real, and what it costs on the dates a guest searched. Have these in place first:
- Your booking page is live. Enable Direct bookings is on under Settings → Admin → Direct Bookings, and you either take deposits or have Collect a deposit online switched off. See Booking engine.
- A Google Business Profile, claimed and verified, in a lodging category (Hotel, Guest house, Resort, Bed & breakfast…). This is your listing on Google Maps — Google attaches the booking row to it.
- Your address, postcode, city and phone filled in under Settings → Admin, matching what your Business Profile shows. Google matches the two by name, address, phone and map location.
- A description, a cancellation policy and at least one photo under Settings → Admin. Your booking page is where Google sends guests, and it has to do the selling.
- Every booking goes into Zitlin. Walk-ins, phone bookings, OTA bookings — all of them. Google shows the rooms Zitlin says are free; a room sold somewhere Zitlin does not know about is a room Google keeps selling.
Zitlin support also sets your property's exact map location, which Google uses alongside the address.
Checking it is on¶
Settings → Admin → Direct Bookings ends with a Google free booking links block that always shows where you stand:
| What it says | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Show your rooms and prices on Google… | Not switched on. Use Ask Zitlin to switch it on. |
| Switched on. Your prices are being sent to Google… | Switched on in the last few minutes; the first prices are on their way. |
| Live on Google | Your prices are on Google, with the time they were last sent. |
| Switched on, but not showing on Google right now | Something has taken you off Google for now — the block lists what. |
New properties take about a week to appear
Google first has to match your property to its Maps listing, which can take up to seven business days. After that, price and availability changes reach Google within minutes.
What Google gets¶
Everything Google shows comes from the same place your booking page does, so the two always agree:
| Sent to Google | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Your room types and how many adults each sleeps | Settings → Rooms |
| The price for each night, for 1 adult up to the room's maximum | Your room rates, seasonal and weekday multipliers, and the extra-adult surcharge — see Pricing |
| Taxes | The room type's tax. Google gets the price before and after tax, and shows guests the after-tax total |
| How many rooms are free each night | The same availability your front desk sees |
| Minimum and maximum stay, closed to arrival / departure, stop-sell | Your restrictions, plus the min/max stay under Direct Bookings |
| How far ahead guests can book | Max booking window under Direct Bookings |
The price on Google is for the room only. Children stay free within the room's occupancy, as they do on your booking page.
Google checks your prices
Google regularly opens your booking page for a stay it has shown a price for and compares the two. Because both come from Zitlin they match — unless a room is sold outside Zitlin, or a price is changed somewhere else. Keep Zitlin the one place your rooms and rates live.
When you drop off Google¶
Zitlin takes your row off Google automatically — rather than leave Google showing a price your page cannot honour — whenever:
- Enable Direct bookings is switched off, or your account is restricted;
- a free account has used up this month's room booking allowance (you come back at the start of the next month, or on upgrading);
- the Zitlin team switches Google booking links off.
When the reason goes away, your prices go back to Google on their own.
Bookings from Google¶
A guest who books through Google makes an ordinary booking-engine booking: it arrives On hold, you get the same email, and you confirm it the same way — see Confirming a booking.
What is different is that the folio is marked Google Hotel Ads as its OTA, so you can see what Google brought in. The Channel mix report under Daily Reports shows Google's room revenue next to your other channels.
Common questions¶
Does it cost anything?
No. There is no fee from Zitlin, no cost per click from Google, and no commission on the booking. You pay your usual payment fee, if any, on the deposit.
Will my row appear above Booking.com?
Not by right. Google orders the rows itself, and the price a guest can see next to yours matters most. If your direct price is higher than an OTA's, the guest notices. Direct should never be the expensive option.
I am switched on but cannot find my price on Google
Check the block under Settings → Admin → Direct Bookings first — if it lists a reason, that is it. If it says Live on Google, search your hotel by name with dates, and open View prices or Check availability. Google may not show every row for every search. If it still is not there after a week, contact support.
Google is showing the wrong place, or no booking options at all
Your Business Profile and your Zitlin address must agree, or Google cannot match them. Fix whichever is wrong and tell support, who can re-check the match.
Can I leave some room types off Google?
Not yet. Every room type with at least one room is sent, the same as your booking page shows.
Is this the same as the channel manager?
No. The channel manager sells your rooms on OTAs, which take a commission. Google booking links send guests to your own booking page, which does not. You can run both — they share the same availability.