As an official Google partner, Beds24 sends your direct prices and availability to Google, so they show on Google Search and Maps with a link to your Beds24 booking page. Vacation rentals use Google for Vacation Rentals; hotels and hotel-type properties use Google Hotel Ads, with free booking links and optional paid campaigns.
Quick Guide
- Go to Settings > Channel Manager > Google Ads and choose your Google Product: Google for Vacation Rentals or Google Hotel Ads.
- Complete your property information in Settings > Properties > Description and check it with View Mapping Data.
- Set Synchronise for the room: Notify for Vacation Rentals, Enable for Hotel Ads.
- Check your landing page, then wait for Google to verify or match your property (up to 2 weeks).
Table of Contents
- Which Google product fits your property
- Google for Vacation Rentals
- Google Hotel Ads: who can use it
- Free booking links (Google Hotel Center)
- Paid campaigns (Google Ads)
- Deposit collection
- Prices sent to Google
- Landing page
- Bookings, reports and visibility
- Troubleshooting
Which Google product fits your property
| Product | For | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Google for Vacation Rentals | Vacation rentals such as apartments and holiday houses, without business signage or a staffed front desk | No Google commission. Normal Beds24 channel manager fees apply. |
| Google Hotel Ads: free booking links | Hotels and hotel-type properties with a staffed front desk and a Google Business Profile | Normal Beds24 channel manager fees apply. |
| Google Hotel Ads: paid campaigns | Hotels that also want to bid for ads | €0.50 per room (not per room type) on top of the normal channel manager fees, plus your Google Ads spend. |
Google for Vacation Rentals
Vacation rentals without business signage and a permanently staffed front desk that accepts walk-in guests aren't allowed a Google Business Profile, so they can't show on Google Maps. Beds24 lists them on Google Vacation Rentals instead. Google builds a listing from the pictures, prices, availability and descriptions Beds24 sends, with a direct link to your Beds24 booking page. When your property matches a guest's search, Google shows it with live prices and availability, and the guest books on your booking page.
Step 1: Select Google for Vacation Rentals
In Settings > Channel Manager > Google Ads, set Google Product to:
- Google for Vacation Rentals (List Rooms) to send room content, or to connect more than one room in a property. Beds24 sends the room names from Settings > Properties > Rooms > Description and the room pictures. Without room pictures, it sends the offer pictures, and without those, the property pictures.
- Google for Vacation Property (List Property) to send the property name, description and pictures.
Step 2: Check your pictures
Google needs at least 8 pictures. In Settings > Booking Engine > Pictures, check that at least eight pictures are uploaded and active.
Note: Google sometimes picks the images at random and shows them in a random order, not in the order you set.
Step 3: Complete your property information
Google rejects data that doesn't include all of the following. Update them in Settings > Properties > Description:
- Property name
- City, state, postcode and country
- Address. With several properties, Google expects a different address for each.
- Latitude and longitude of the property's actual location
Click View Mapping Data to check what Beds24 will send. If anything is missing, go back to Settings > Properties > Description.
Step 4: Allow Beds24 to send your data
Google for Vacation Rentals listings are per property, and only one room per property can connect. Set Synchronise = Notify for the room you want to connect, so Google can verify your content.
Step 5: Check your landing page
Make sure your landing page gives guests enough information to book with confidence. See Landing page.
Expected result: Google verifies your property within 14 days and then shows it when it matches a guest's search.
To find your property on Google:
- Go to Google Travel and click Vacation rentals or Holiday rentals.
- Move the map to the area of the property.
- Choose dates that are bookable with the property's availability and restrictions.
- Search for the property name, or find it on the map.
Google Hotel Ads: who can use it
Google Hotel Ads shows your hotel in ads on desktop, tablet and mobile. Paid hotel ads are ranked by Google's ad auction. Free booking links show similar information but are ranked by how useful they are to users; Google may show them next to hotel ads in the booking module.
Google Hotel Ads is only for hotels and hotel-type properties, not vacation rentals. By Google's guidelines, the property needs:
- Rooms where paying guests can stay
- A physical presence and fixed location that is open to the public
- A staffed front desk open during normal business hours
- A minimum stay of no more than 7 days
- A Google Business Profile listing
Note: Google Hotel Ads doesn't respect minimum stay restrictions. Google checks for a one-night stay on each date; if it finds no one-night availability, it usually treats the date as closed and doesn't check longer stays. Google also favours properties with availability in the near future.
Important: Beds24 must be the booking engine on your website. If your website uses another booking engine, Google doesn't allow you to use Google Hotel Ads through Beds24.
Free booking links (Google Hotel Center)
With a Google Hotel Center connection, Beds24 sends your property data to Google. When Google matches it, Beds24 sends your prices and availability, and you get Google's free booking links. They show in the hotel booking module next to hotel ads when travellers look for rooms at your hotel. Google's matching can take a few weeks.
Step 1: Update your Google Business Profile
Make sure your Google Business Profile is verified and up to date with your hotel information. If you don't have one, set one up; Google's site explains how.
Step 2: Match your Beds24 information to your Google Business Profile
Click View Mapping Data and compare it with your Google Business listing. The information must match exactly and include all of these, set in Settings > Properties > Description:
- Property name
- City, state, postcode and country
- Address
- Phone number
- Latitude and longitude of the property's actual location
Important: with several properties, Google expects a unique address and phone number for each. You can't use the same address and phone number for more than one property.
Tip: For Google to show that a booking can be cancelled, allow cancellations in Settings > Booking Engine and Settings > Properties > Offers.
Step 3: Allow Beds24 to send your data
- In Settings > Channel Manager > Google Ads, set Google Product = Google Hotel Ads.
- Set Synchronise = Enable for at least one room, so Google can read your data and match you. This opts you in to free booking links.
Step 4: Check your landing page
See Landing page. Google can take up to 2 weeks to match your hotel.
Step 5: Check the match
- In Settings > Channel Manager > Google Ads, click View Mapping Data.
- If you're not matched yet, Google may still be working on it.
- If you see errors or warnings, fix them and check again.
Expected result: once matched, Beds24 sends your prices and availability, and your free booking links can show on Google.
Paid campaigns (Google Ads)
Hotel campaigns let you bid for ads that show when travellers search for accommodation on Google Search, Google Maps or YouTube, in a hotel booking module with photos, amenities, prices and a booking link. Learn more about hotel campaigns. You need a Google Ads connection in addition to the Google Hotel Center connection.
Google shows the highest and next highest bidder directly in the ad, and the next four after the guest clicks More.
How it works: Beds24 sends your properties, their content, prices and availability to Google and links them to your Google Ads account. You then create hotel ad campaigns for them.
Tip: A well-maintained Google profile with pictures and descriptions is an important part of marketing on Google.
Step 1: Find your Google Ads customer ID
Sign in to Google Ads and copy your Google Ads customer ID from the top right of the page, in the format 123-456-7890.
Step 2: Start the connection in Beds24
- Go to Settings > Channel Manager > Google Ads.
- Check that Google Product is set to Google Hotel Ads.
- Paste your customer ID into Google Ads Customer ID. From now on, the extra fee of €0.50 per room (not per room type) applies.
- Check that the rooms you want to connect are set to Enable. At least one room must be connected.
- Click Save.
Note: If you enable a room in a property for the first time, Google may take up to two weeks to match the property with your Google Business Profile.
Step 3: Approve the connection in Google Ads
- In your Google Ads account, go to Tools > Data Manager > Connected Products.
- Find Google Hotel Center and click Manage & link.
- In the Action column, click View request.
- Click Approve.
Expected result: within 72 hours, the Hotel campaign type appears in your Google Ads account.
Create a hotel ad campaign
- In Google Ads, click Create + and select Campaign.
- For the campaign objective, select Create a campaign without a goal's guidance.
- For the campaign type, select Hotel and click Continue. If Hotel isn't there, wait up to 72 hours after linking.
- For Choose your source of hotel rates for this campaign, select I have a Hotel Center account.
- Below it, select 1631096518 (beds24) and click Continue.
- Fill in the other campaign settings as you like.
See Google's help on creating a hotel campaign.
Select properties in a campaign
- In Google Ads, go to Campaigns > Ad groups and select your ad group.
- Hover over the All hotels hotel group and click +.
- Filter your properties by property ID, location and more.
See Google's help on selecting properties in a hotel campaign.
Disconnect your Google Ads account
- In Beds24, remove your Google Ads customer ID from your properties in Settings > Channel Manager > Google Ads.
- In Google Ads, go to Tools > Data Manager > Connected Products > Google Hotel Center, click Unlink, then Proceed.
Note: After you disconnect, campaigns that rely on the link stop serving ads, and you can't create new hotel ad campaigns.
Deposit collection
In Settings > Channel Manager > Google Ads, choose how deposits are collected for bookings from Google:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Default | Uses the Booking Type in Settings > Booking Engine > Deposit Collection Direct Bookings. |
| Instant Deposit Collected | Hides payment options that don't notify Beds24 instantly when funds are collected, such as offline payments and card number collection. |
| Deposit Collection | Allows all the deposit collection types you have enabled, for bookings from Google only. Your normal booking rule for other bookings doesn't change. |
Set up the deposit collection options in Settings > Payments.
Prices sent to Google
Beds24 sends prices once Google has matched you.
- The price sent is the lowest 2-person price from offer 1 and offer 2 of your direct booking prices. A 2-person price is required: without one, the room is sent as unavailable.
- Prices for 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8 guests are also sent if you have set them.
- Discounts on the Discounts tab of fixed prices aren't sent.
- Compulsory taxes and fees are sent with the price, so Google shows the full price. Guests from Google expect to pay the same price on your booking page.
- You can set a multiplier to adjust the prices sent to Google. It only applies to the room price, not to fees and upsell items. See Price multiplier.
Landing page
When a guest clicks to book on Google, your Beds24 booking page opens. Your conversion rate depends largely on the quality of this landing page.
- You can set up a dedicated booking page layout for Google. Default template 7 is a good start and already has a map. See Responsive Booking Page.
- Click Landing Page to check the page. It should show your logo or at least your property name, and at least one high-quality picture for each room. Keep any header picture or slider low enough that the first room shows without scrolling.
- Consider adding contact details, your address and a Google map.
- To add URL parameters, enter only the parameters in the URL additions fields, not the full booking page URL. For example,
&roomid=9999shows only room 9999. See Developers for the parameters.
Important: The Google ad shows in all languages your booking page allows. Activate every language you accept bookings in, in Settings > Booking Page > Internationalization: guests searching in a language your booking page doesn't support can't book direct.
Bookings, reports and visibility
- Where bookings are made: Google sends the guest to your booking page; redirecting elsewhere isn't possible. You handle charges and everything else about the booking.
- Campaign performance: click Weekly Performance Report for Google's weekly report.
- Account balance: if your Beds24 account balance goes negative, your listing is removed from Google. Once the balance is positive again, Google can update your listing.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Your ad or listing doesn't show on Google | The property isn't matched with a Google Business listing | Check the match with View Mapping Data, see Check the match. |
| Your ad doesn't show for some searches | Your booking page doesn't support the language of the search | Activate the language in Settings > Booking Page > Internationalization. |
| Your paid ad doesn't show | Your bid is too low, often because OTAs also bid on your property | Raise your bid by one point every week until it's competitive. |
| Few results for longer stays | Google Ads defaults to a one-night stay and works best for short, near-term stays | Make sure one-night stays are bookable, see Who can use it. |
| Your listing disappeared | Your Beds24 account balance is negative | Bring the balance back to a positive value. |
| You didn't receive a request to connect your Google Ads account | Wrong customer ID, or the request didn't go through | Check the ID in Google Ads Customer ID. To send a new request, remove the ID, click Save, enter it again and click Save. |
| You can't link or create hotel campaigns | Missing access or account mode | You need admin access to your Google Ads account, the account must be in expert mode, and the property needs a Google Business account. |