Service
Your rate in Google's price list: free booking links first, Hotel Ads when they pay
Since March 2021 Google has shown a free “official site” entry in the hotel price list for any property that gives it a rate, next to Booking.com and Expedia, at no cost per click. Since 20 February 2025 there is no commission-per-stay bidding for Hotel Ads, so the paid entry above it costs money per click whether or not the guest books. That order decides the service: the free link on every property, a paid campaign only on your own name and live dates where the audit shows an OTA sitting above you. Both are inside every tier from £399 a month; Hotel Ads management on request.
Illustration: the price list on a name search
Sat 10 to Mon 12 October, 2 guests
- Booking.comAd£129
- Official siteFree link£119, breakfast included
- Expedia£129
- Hotels.com£131
Made-up rates for a made-up property, to show the shape. The OTA at the top is paying for the position; the official-site entry is free and, with breakfast in it, the better deal without breaking parity.
How Google gets your rate
Three routes into the price list
Route 1
A connected booking engine
Most UK engines are Google connectivity partners (eviivo, freetobook, Guestline, SiteMinder, Little Hotelier, Mews, Cloudbeds among them). Rates and availability flow into Hotel Center and stay in step with the OTAs. The right route for any property with changing rates.
Days to a week for Google to approve the link
Route 2
Rates typed into the Business Profile
Eligible individual properties enter rates and availability by calendar or bulk editor. Right for a small B&B with a fixed rate card; impractical for dynamic pricing.
About an hour for a rate to appear
Route 3
No feed
Google shows the OTAs' rates only. Every name search becomes a commission.
Where most properties we audit are
Whichever route, the link has to land on a booking page on your own site, and the rate Google shows has to match the rate the engine charges for those dates. Hotel Center reports price accuracy and demotes links that disagree, so we check it monthly with real dates from a phone.
When to pay
Free link or paid entry, by situation
| Situation | Free booking link | Hotel Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Nobody is bidding on your name and the free link shows your rate | Enough. Keep the feed accurate. | Not needed. |
| An OTA's paid entry sits above your free link on your own name | Still needed underneath. | Yes: your name, your dates, a daily cap, tracked. |
| A booking window opens for a season you have rooms for | Needed. | Worth a capped campaign for the window, then off. |
| You want "hotel in your town" against the OTAs | Needed. | No. Their budgets are larger and their pages convert comparison shoppers better. |
| Months you are already full | Needed. | Off. Paying for clicks that cannot book. |
How we run a hotel campaign
Narrow, capped, measured, seasonal
- Your name and your live dates. The campaign exists to sit above the OTA that is bidding on you, not to fight for the town.
- A daily cap set from the commission a booking would otherwise cost, so a click can never cost more than the commission it saves.
- Conversion tracking from the booking engine, so the report shows cost per direct booking, not clicks.
- On in the booking windows, off when the season is sold. Bidding in December for Christmas rooms that went in October is the commonest waste we see.
- In your own Google Ads account, with the spend on your card. We manage; we never hold the money.
The set-up, step by step
From no feed to a tracked campaign
- 01The audit: a name search with real dates from a phone, the entries in the price list, who is paying, whether your rate is there.
- 02The Business Profile owned and complete, because the price list hangs off it.
- 03The feed: the booking engine connected to Hotel Center, or rates entered in the profile, with the link landing on your booking page.
- 04Hotel Center's price accuracy checked until it is clean.
- 05Only if an OTA is paying on your name: a Google Ads account in your name, a hotel campaign on your property, the cap, the schedule.
- 06Booking engine conversions into Google Ads and analytics, so every pound has a booking against it.
- 07Monthly: the price list re-tested, the cost per booking against the commission, the terms that did not book cut.
The listing work in steps two and three is the one-off build; campaign management is quoted with your tier.
Questions hotel owners ask us
What is the difference between free booking links and Hotel Ads?
Both put your rate in the price list on your knowledge panel and in the hotel module, and both need Google to have your rates. Free booking links cost nothing per click. Hotel Ads are the paid entries above them, charged per click or on a target return, and need a Google Ads account with a hotel campaign as well as Hotel Center.
Is Hotel Center the same as the Business Profile?
No. The Business Profile is the listing: name, category, photos, amenities, reviews. Hotel Center is where Google receives rates and availability and reports on whether they match what your booking page charges. Both have to be right.
We tried Hotel Ads and they cost more than they made. Why?
Almost always because the campaign was wide: bidding on the town rather than the name, running in full months, with no conversion tracking to show cost per booking. Since commission bidding ended in February 2025 a wide campaign spends whether or not it books.
Can a holiday let use free booking links?
Holiday lets can appear in Google's vacation rental listings through a connected channel manager or booking system, with a direct link and rate. The route differs a little from a hotel's and not every platform is connected; the audit checks yours.
Find out who is being paid when someone searches your name
Send us the property name. We search it with real dates, list who is in the price list and who is paying for the top of it, and tell you whether the free link, a campaign, or both is the answer.