innRoad’s Google Booking Links integration sends your rates, availability, and inventory straight to Google Maps and Google Search. Guests click the link to your official site and complete the booking on your innRoad Booking Engine — with no advertising spend and no OTA commission.
Click the links below to jump to a specific section:
- How it works – guest experience
- Before you start
- Google Booking Links setup
- Supported room classes and rate plans
- Connecting to Google Hotel Ads
- FAQs
- Which rate is shown on Google Maps or Google Search?
- What happens if I blackout certain room classes or rates?
- Can I use Google Free Booking Links for multiple properties?
- Do the policies I set up in innRoad show up in Google?
- Are fees added to the price shown on Google?
- Are taxes added to the price shown on Google?
- Can I control which rates are sent to Google?
- How do I stop using Google Free Booking Links?
- How will Google use my data?
How it works – guest experience
When a guest searches for a place to stay on Google Maps, Google Search, or Google Hotels, your property appears in the results.
- Guests usually see promoted rates first, such as prices from Booking.com or other OTAs.
- Your Google Free Booking Link appears in the All options section with an Official site badge.
- The guest clicks the link and lands on your innRoad Booking Engine, which shows the rooms and rate plans for their stay.
- Their search criteria carry over. In this example, 2 adults and stay dates of April 12–15 are passed to the Booking Engine.
- The guest books as usual, and the reservation’s Referral field is set to Google Booking Links.
Before you start
Your property needs to meet two requirements before it can send availability, rates, and inventory to Google.
Property type
Google offers free booking links to hotel properties. This includes inns, hotels, bed and breakfasts, motels, resorts, farm stays, and similar.
Your property is eligible if:
- It has a front desk or on-site management
- It accepts overnight guests
- The property and business address are listed publicly
See Google’s list of property types considered hotels. Anything outside that list is treated as a vacation rental and is not supported.
Google Business Profile
Google matches your innRoad property to a Google Business Profile, which controls how your property appears on Maps and Search. Your property may already have one. If not, create a Google Business Profile or request ownership of an existing profile.
You can find also get more information about Google Business Profiles here.
Google Booking Links setup
Click Setup in the top navigation, then Google Booking Links Setup.
Step 1: Select a booking engine
Most properties have a single innRoad Booking Engine. If that’s you, it’s selected automatically — move on to Step 2.
Multi-property clients
If you have several properties, you may also have several booking engines — for example, one engine showing all properties plus a dedicated engine per property. To select the right one:
- Select the property you want to configure in the top right corner.
- Go to Setup > Google Booking Links Setup.
- Open the booking engine dropdown. Only booking engines linked to a specific property are listed.
- Choose the booking engine that matches the property you are configuring.
Publishing with the wrong booking engine sends the wrong rates and rooms to Google. If you’re not sure which one to select, contact us at support@innroad.com.
Step 2: Complete property details
These details are what Google uses to match your innRoad property to a Google Business Profile. Editable fields are highlighted in blue below:
Editable fields
These are pre-filled from your innRoad account. Each one should be identical to your Google Business Profile.
Field | Must match |
Property Name on Google | The name in your Google Business Profile. |
Website | The website in your Google Business Profile. |
The email in your Google Business Profile. | |
Phone number | The phone number in your Google Business Profile. |
Non-editable fields
These are also pulled from your innRoad account: Address, City, State/Province, Postal Code, Country, Latitude, and Longitude.
To change any of these, go to Setup > Properties and edit the details there.
Description (optional)
You can add a short description of your property.
The description is used only to match your Booking Engine to a Google Business Profile. It will not change any information in your Google Business Profile.
Step 3: Save and publish
Click Save at any point to keep your progress.
These fields matter most for a successful match:
- Property Name on Google
- Website
- Phone number
- Latitude
- Longitude
When the details on the page match your Google Business Profile, click Publish.
Google compares your details against its records and can take up to 2 business days to find a match. Once your property is matched, your availability, rates, and inventory appear on Google Maps and Google Search.
That’s everything you need to start using Google Booking Links.
Supported room classes and rate plans
The rates and room classes sent to Google closely match what appears on your Booking Engine, so guests see the same price on Google as they do when they book.
Supported rates
Rate type | Description |
Nightly rates | Nightly Rate Plans distributed to the innRoad Booking Engine, including season-level minimum stay, no check-in days, and no check-out days. |
Derived rates | Derived Rate Plans distributed to the innRoad Booking Engine, including season-level minimum stay, no check-in days, and no check-out days. |
Override rates | Override rates applied to the innRoad Booking Engine. |
Unsupported rates
Rate plan type | Why it isn’t sent |
Rate plans with rate plan-level conditions | Length of stay and booking window conditions aren’t supported. You can apply a minimum stay to a season, but not to the rate plan, and advance purchase rules can’t be applied to rate plans. |
Interval rate plans | Not currently supported. |
Rate plans with a promo code | Google only accepts publicly available rates, and promo code rates are not public. |
Package rate plans | Google does not accept information about the items included in a package. |
This list may change as we continue to develop the Google Booking Links integration.
Connecting to Google Hotel Ads
You can also connect your property data to Google Ads.
Clicking the ad takes the guest to your innRoad Booking Engine. The difference is where the listing appears and how it’s ranked:
- Google Free Booking Links are free and are ranked on user behavior. The offer most people find attractive appears first.
- Google Hotel Ads are paid and are ranked by ad auction. The highest bid for the placement appears first.
The screenshot below shows where each one appears:
If you have a Google Ads account, you can link it and bid for higher placement:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Click the tools icon in the upper right corner.
- Under Setup, click Linked accounts.
- Under From Google, find Google Hotel Center and click Details.
- Click Link. If you’ve linked a Hotel Center account before, click the plus button instead.
- Enter 1529610680 as the innRoad Hotel Center account and click Send.
The innRoad team will review your request and link the associated property from Google Hotel Center.
Google states that linking your Google Ads account to Google Hotel Center and Free Booking Links data may take up to 72 hours.
Learn more about linking Hotel Ads in this Google support article.
FAQs
Which rate is shown on Google Maps or Google Search?
Guests see the lowest available price for their dates and number of adults and children.
What happens if I blackout certain room classes or rates?
The simplest approach is to blackout the relevant rooms and rate plans in innRoad. If you apply the blackout to the Booking Engine source associated with Google Booking Links, those rooms become unavailable on both Free Booking Links and Ads.
Can I use Google Free Booking Links for multiple properties?
Yes. Repeat the same steps for each property:
- Confirm it’s a hotel property with a Google Business Profile;
- Log in to innRoad and select the property in the property selector in the top right corner;
- Go to Setup > Google Booking Links Setup;
- Select a booking engine and fill out the property details;
- Click Save, then Publish.
Google will process each property’s data within 2–3 business days.
Do the policies I set up in innRoad show up in Google?
Not yet — policies aren’t included in the rate shown on Google. Guests will still see the policies that apply to your Booking Engine rates while making the reservation.
Are fees added to the price shown on Google?
Yes, fees are included in the price shown on Google.
Are taxes added to the price shown on Google?
Yes. Taxes set to apply to room charges are included, such as VAT, flat amount per night, and flat amount per person per night. Tiered taxes are not currently supported.
Can I control which rates are sent to Google?
By default, the integration sends the rates and room classes distributed to the selected booking engine. To exclude certain rates, contact the innRoad support team. We’ll create a separate Booking Engine and send that engine’s data to Google, so you can control exactly which rates and room classes are sourced to it.
Google has to re-process your data after this change, which can take up to 2 business days.
How do I stop using Google Free Booking Links?
Contact the innRoad support team and we’ll remove your availability, rates, and inventory data from Google. Your Google Business Profile isn’t affected.
How will Google use my data?
Google uses the data from the setup page only to match your property to a Google Business Profile on Maps and Search. Your details are compared against existing profiles to find a hotel with identical or similar information.
The data you provide to innRoad will not overwrite information in your Google Business Profile.
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