In a recent blog article, Fuel’s own Pete DiMaio outlined 6 changes that Google has made over the past year that should scare the Dickens out of hotel marketers. The good news is that your Fueligan friends are here with another episode of the Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast to break down these changes, tell you what they mean, and give you a game plan on how to adjust your marketing strategy and not get stuck in the ‘Upside Down’.
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SHOW NOTES
VIEW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE:
www.fueltravel.com/blog/google-hotel-marketing-demogorgon/
Stats of the Week

• Gmail has 1.4 billion users
• TripAdvisor has just over 300 million registered users and 455 million annual site visitors.
• Google drives over 90% of organic search traffic to hotel websites

Here are the key changes that have occured over the course of the past year:

• Battlefront #1: Google Continues to Improve the Hotel Listing Experience
• Battlefront #2: Improved Hotel Searching and Filtering
• Battlefront #3: Hotel Price Insights
• Battlefront #4: Booking Direct On Google
• Battlefront #5: Google Steadily Improving Hotel-Centric Advertising Opportunities
• Battlefront #6: Google Trips App Continues To Improve
• Battlefront #7: TripAdvisor Is Really Screwing Up

 
 
Conclusion and Key Takeaways
The Hotel Marketing Demogorgon is starting to take shape and a hotelier will be well-served to keep an eye on this beast and be ready to take advantage of the market shakeups that are coming in its wake.  Expect TripAdvisor and the OTAs to create programs to retain their market share. Hoteliers should also be prepared to capitalize on the upcoming changes with these recommendations:

• Make sure your Google My Business listing is optimized and you are taking full advantage of this platform.
• Work with your agency to make sure you are pushing your traditional PPC to its limits.
• Review your GHA campaign and make sure you are fully utilizing the platform.
• Google is lagging behind TripAdvisor in reviews, but not by much.  Have a plan to grow your Google reviews.
• Review your budget for 2019 and make sure you are positioning your efforts to take advantage of Google’s push into the hotel space.

***UPCOMING 100th EPISODE LIVE SHOW***
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30th 2018 at 1:15 pm ET, The Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast will be broadcasting a live “Ask Me Anything”  video show on Facebook and YouTube. Tube in live to or submit your questions to @_travelboom on Twitter or email them to info@travelboommarketing.com.
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In The Newsaroos
Google Testing a New Hotel Search Experience on Desktop
https://www.koddi.com/google-testing-new-hotel-search-experience-on-desktop/
Book on Google Stands Out More Forcefully in Hotels Redesign
https://skift.com/2018/10/31/book-on-google-stands-out-more-forcefully-in-hotels-redesign/
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Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to @_travelboom.