When a guest searches your hotel's name, or something like 'resorts near me', the box with your photos, rating, map and phone number is your Google Business Profile. For many travellers, it's the first thing they see about you, before your website or Instagram.
It's free, and it's one of the most useful things a small property can get right. Here's how.
Step 1: Find, claim and verify your listing
Search your property's name on Google Maps. There's a good chance a listing already exists, created by Google or a guest. If it does, look for 'Own this business?' or 'Claim this business'. If not, add it through Google Business Profile.
Google will ask you to verify that you run the place. Depending on your business, that can be by phone, email, a video of your property or a postcard. Follow what Google offers you, and be patient: verification can take a few days.
If someone else, such as a former manager or an old agency, controls your listing, you can request access through Google. Always make sure the owner holds the main account.
Step 2: Get the basics exactly right
- Name. Your real property name, as it appears on your signboard. Don't add keywords like 'Best Resort Near Lonavala', as Google can suspend listings for that.
- Category. Pick the most accurate main category: Hotel, Resort hotel, Homestay, Guest house, Bed & breakfast, Villa and so on.
- Address and pin. Check the map pin is on your gate, not the middle of the road. Guests use it for directions.
- Phone and WhatsApp. A number that's answered. Use the same number on your website and Instagram.
- Website. Link to your own website, not a booking-site page.
- Check-in and check-out times. Hotels can add these, and guests look for them.
Step 3: Add amenities and a description
Hotel listings have a list of amenities, such as pool, free Wi-Fi, parking, restaurant, pet-friendly, air conditioning and more. Mark everything you genuinely offer. Guests filter by these on Google.
Write a short, plain description: what kind of place you are, where you are, what's special, who you suit. For example: 'Twelve villas with a shared pool, twenty minutes from the lake. Good for families and small groups. Home-style Gujarati and continental food.'
Step 4: Photos, and lots of them
Listings with good photos get more attention. Add a clear cover photo, then photos of every room type, bathrooms, the view, the pool, food, common areas, the outside by day and night, and the entrance so guests recognise it when they arrive.
Keep adding new photos every month: a seasonal view, a new dish, a festival evening. It shows guests, and Google, that the place is active. Guests can add photos too, and theirs often come up first, which is one more reason to keep yours fresh.
Step 5: Reviews and replies
Reviews affect both where you show up on Maps and whether guests trust you. Ask every happy guest for a Google review, and make it easy with a short link or a QR code at checkout.
Reply to every review, good and bad, within a few days. Thank people by name for good ones. For bad ones, stay calm, apologise for the experience, say what you've changed, and offer to talk directly. Future guests read your replies as much as the reviews.
Don't offer discounts or gifts for reviews, and don't ask only happy guests while steering unhappy ones elsewhere. Both are against Google's rules and can get reviews removed or your listing restricted.
Read: how to get more Google reviewsStep 6: Show prices with free booking links
Google can show your room prices and availability next to the booking sites in hotel search results, with a link to your own website marked as the official site. This is called free booking links, and it costs nothing from Google.
To use it, your Google Business Profile needs to be connected to Google's Hotel Center through an approved connectivity partner, usually your booking engine or channel manager. Ask your provider whether they support it.
Step 7: Keep it alive
- Update holiday hours, closures and seasonal changes.
- Answer questions guests ask on the listing.
- Post offers and news before long weekends and festivals.
- Check the listing every month for edits suggested by Google or the public.
- Keep your name, address and phone the same everywhere online.
It only takes a little time each week, but it's easy to forget when you're running a property. It's part of what we do every month for our clients.
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