How the Hotel ME uses Google my Business to reach more customers

Matt, great to have you back again. Our resident Google my business expert. What you can talk to us, talk us through today.

So today we are focusing on a hotel. Specifically we're looking at me in London, which is Amelia Hotel. But this could be used for any hotel or any accommodation, and certain parts of it as well are kind of transferable across industries.

So just before you start, this is. This is. You don't have to be a big hotel in London to be able to do this. You could be a little local BNB or somebody with an Airbnb, for example. All of this stuff is relevant to any size of business. Yeah?

Yep, 100%. I would actually advise doing it more if you are smaller as well, because you can capitalise on the opportunities it offers you.

Brilliant. And if anybody hasn't yet done this, please just use the blue button to the right of you and go and ask us how to set up a Google my business page. And there's a really great article and a really great video that talks you through that bit by bit. And any questions, as always, ask, ask questions and our team will get back to you. But Matt, take it away. Tell me what. Tell me what these guys are doing so well and what everybody else should replicate if they're any form of hotel, B and B or, you know, somewhere where I can go and stay.

So the main thing is pretty much right in front of our face as soon as we start. And it says book a room button. So this book a room button, literally, if I click that, it will give me the option to see the availability of the rooms, different room types, prices, the dates, obviously everything you'd normally expect to see if you were trying to book a hotel. The reason I wanted to push, kind of put focus on this one is this buttons actually transferable across industries and many different types. So you could use it if you're a small B and B, an Airbnb, a big hotel. But alternatively there is an option to use it for restaurants as well. And instead of book a room, it's just reserve a table. And it's the easiest way to drive bookings for your business, because if I click that, I will see straight away the availability, the price times, if it's booking a table, etc. And I can book it there and.

Then start with that. So are you telling me that Google offer any business a free booking facility?

Yeah, exactly. So it does link in slightly with obviously their internal system to make sure the information is up to date, but that's exactly what it is. Someone can click this button and just book a room. As simple as that. And what that really does for a user as well is it makes it so quick and easy. You don't need to go onto their website. You don't need to trawl through hundreds of different websites and obviously different comparison sites. Is there. I know this hotel. I know I want to go to this specific hotel. Here's a button that's giving me the option to book a room. I'll click that button. I choose my date, choose how long I'm staying for, choose my room. Sorted. Easy as that. And not a lot of businesses do it. So it really sets you apart if you do offer that.

And why wouldn't you? Well, I think it's the. There is no reason not to do that, Matt.

Right, exactly. And as I said, if you're a restaurant or a cafe as well, and you have like reservations for tables, there is reserve a table option of this button. So make sure you're doing that as well because that is just as quick and easy to set up.

Okay, Matt, I think what would be great is if we talk through what else Melondon are doing really, really well. I know that we've got a section within the maybe hub right now that talks you through how to set up Google my business listing, but I think what we should do is also create a version of this. So very soon there'll be also a version of that. So if you're watching this, watching this, please do search for how do I create this? And it is not there right now. It's coming very soon, but it will be there very soon anyway. So whoever's, whoever's doing this, can you cut all of that bit out and let's start again, Matt, So when we, if we go back a bit, Let's edit that. So if we. So the, if you want to know more about the book a room or book a table, please just search in the blue button and then you'll find exactly how to add that to your Google my business profile. That's fantastic. So let's keep going and tell me what else these guys do really, really well.

So one thing I wanted to point out, kind of just as we're scrolling down this profile as well, is this ad section here, which again is check availability. Obviously that seems a little bit overkill with the booker room button above. But the one thing I did want to point out is this is an ad section. Now, not every single listing will show this, but depending on your kind of niche or the industry you're in it may show. And the big thing I wanted to point out there is that this isn't something you can actually control. Is the one thing you can't control in your Google My Business. You can control your own ads and by all means there is an option to do that through Google My Business. But this is just showing a variety of websites to book and this is generally something that is just in in like the travel and tourism industry. It doesn't generally show across any other niches and it is pretty much just using obviously these different comparison sites. That's kind of what it's pulling through. So if you do have a business and you've kind of searched yourself to see how this is looking and you see this section, don't worry, it's not a bad thing and it's not something that you've accidentally set up in the back end of Google My business. This is just something that Google control. But one thing that I did want to point out that is really good and you do have total control over is this section here. So obviously we've got hotel details which is very similar to if you are in any other industry, just information on your business. That's the main thing we're looking at here. But what's really interesting is this amenities section and a lot of businesses don't make use of this. Obviously if I went onto a website for a hotel, I would expect to see what amenities they are, what's going to be in my room, what does the hotel have, what kind of accessibility is there. And Google gives us the options. Just put it straight into your Google My business listing so that again tells your customers straight away you are offering them what they need. Free Wi Fi, breakfast, laundry service, accessible, etc. Any amenities you have you can upload into here and Google will display on the front end.

It's really, I mean that's just extraordinary, isn't it? So anybody can do that. Just need to add it into their Google My Business and say when I'm on my phone looking for somewhere to stay or I'm doing my research, I don't even know needs to go to their website, I can see it all here and go book 100%.

And obviously a lot of these are kind of related to the travel and tourism industry such as, you know, the breakfast, air conditioning, paid parking, free WI fi. But there is the option to add certain amenities for any business as well. So if you have people, if you have a physical store or physical office you can actually list is it accessible? Can you know People in wheelchairs access your actual office. Is there an option for that? And there's a lot of different options there as well. So any business can add amenities in and I would advise that you go in, look through the amenities, see which ones are relatable to you and your business and start displaying them straight away.

Really worth knowing, isn't it? So why would any hospitality not use this feature? It would just be on me. I think it's just a hidden thing that people don't know about. So anybody that's in hospitality, this is an absolute must do. If you don't know how to set up your Google my business profile, please do use all of the content we've got about how you do that. It's all accessible in the blue button to the right. And as always, you've got any questions, just ask us and the team will jump on and give you a hand. And Matt, that's been massively valuable. Is there anything else on this profile we should really shout out about?

I think in terms of the rest of this profile, it's the general kind of things we've been looking at anyway. So it's the reviews. One thing that I love is that they are keeping up to date with posts. I say up to date, it's obviously quite an old post, but they've made sure they have posts on there as well. And especially in kind of the travel and tourism industry, as everything starts to open back up and things become a little bit closer to what they used to be. Make use of these posts. Push offers, push any information, anything new to do with your accommodation. If it is accommodation, just your business, let people know straight away, make it easy for them to find.

Brilliant, Matt, thank you so much. And as I said, all available. If you don't know where to start with this, just search in the blue button for how to do Google My business. And Matt's done a really great video that talks you through all of this. You've got any specific questions, ask away. Matt, as always, great session and look forward to doing more with you sometime very soon.

Thanks, Polly.