Google Vacation Rental: the novelty of the search engine for short-term rentals and holiday homes

You've already heard of Google Vacation Rentals?

It happens to everyone to do Google searches inherent to future trips, ask the search engine about different aspects of the destination where you will go for leisure or work.

If we are looking for a flight, for example, we just need to type departure city + destination together with the word "flights" to immediately find the flight options, the airlines and a calendar to change the departure and return dates.

Through the same mechanism, by typing destination + hotel, we will easily find a series of hotel proposals, being able to change the date and number of guests options.

In addition to all this, in 2020 Google relaunched a great novelty, the "Google Vacation Rental" service i.e. search for Short Rentals and Holiday Homesintended as an independent product exactly as for the "Travel", "Things to do", "Flights" and "Hotel" sections.

The service allows you to show holiday homes for rent in the search results and also to view them their location on Google Maps, as well as the price per night as provided by the partners.

Research offers a wide range of possibilities and travelers will thus be able to choose to stay in different types of properties.

The user experience is user friendly, similar to the one already experienced on any online travel portal, and when the interested party wants to explore one of the selected short-term rentals, he can simply click on "Book now" or "Learn more" and will be redirected to the partner's site to complete the booking and payment process.

It is a handy Travel Metasearch Engine, that is, one of the tools most used by surfers to view offers and compare the prices of the various options.

Updated research shows that 69% of travelers use search engines when starting to think and 70% say they use search engines as part of their trip planning tools.

The usability of meta engines made them become an essential tool in every stage of travel organization.

The primacy among the Travel Meta Search obviously belongs to Google That like leader among search engines has the ability to display its partners among the first results of the serp (Search Engine Results Pages).

Google Vacation Rental: a trend as well as a service

Google's Vacation Rental OptionBesides being a useful service, underlines a clear trend evolution of living arrangements.

No longer just hotels, but short rentals from private individuals suggested to meet a now clear need that the international pandemic situation has further consolidated, namely the search for a smart, easy, comfortable and safe hospitality.

Flexible booking models, competitive prices, high quality of service are just some of the factors that lead us to prefer private hospitality to hotel hospitality.

Major OTAs such as Airbnb and Booking have partnered with Google to showcase vacation rentals and short-term rentals on this new platform. However, they have not yet manifested a clear and definitive adhesion to Google Vacation Rental because they also perceive it as a possible competitor, as well as a resource for greater visibility.

However, the Mountain View giant pressed the accelerator in 2020 aiming to allow users to complete the process of planning a vacation by becoming a real window open on the world of travel, from inspiration to the realization of your travel dream.

A one-stop shop that will surely change the habits of travelers and which represents one another important showcase for holiday home and short-term rental managers.

Google Vacation Rental: How homeowners can take advantage of the new service

We have already mentioned an immediate and intuitive user experience which allows travelers to navigate to the desired connection through the Vacation Rentals menu e navigate to the short-term rental apartment on the travel page.

A section available on both desktop and mobile devices, the latter increasingly used by travelers to evaluate offers and book stays directly from the palm of your hand.

A further opportunity for Hosts who will be able to advertise their apartments but which makes it necessary to understand how to make the most of the new feature of the search engine.

For the owners it is possible enter the house on Google Maps using the service Google My Business.

It is necessary to provide the main information relating to the holiday home such as address, telephone number, website, but this will only be useful for geolocate the property and allow it to be displayed on the map.

To access the Google Vacation Rental service it will then be necessary sign up for Google Ads with your billing information, which will be linked to your Hotel Center account in account settings.

Then you will be able to click on the + icon and proceed to “New Campaign” to create a CPC-based advertising strategy in Google Ads.

To appear among the first search results is still advisable and often necessary enter your accommodations on the portal of an OTA.

Nowadays it is in fact the Online Travel Agencies a place at the top of the serp both organic and paid for top tourist destinations and related keywords.

CleanBnB advises owners to always exploit every diffusion channel and certainly not to neglect the new Google Vacation Rentals, where millions of travelers from all over the world will increasingly search, compare and book their accommodations.

For owners who, on the other hand, do not have the time or possibilities and intend to rely on a manager for all the activities connected to their Short Rent apartment, we are pleased to confirm that by relying on CleanBnB your property is automatically also present on Google Vacation Rental. The ClenBnB Reservation Team manages the rates and reservations on behalf of the owners, which also come from on Google Vacation Rental, capturing the attention of the immense Google audience.

One more reason to put your property on short-term rental and better intercept the restart of the post-pandemic travel sector.