What’s New ’s Latest Trends & Opportunities November 2018 75+ 25+ Hotels, attractions Destination clients and other travel around the world business clients 60+ 1,000s Destinations travel businesses participating in assisted via Kim Palmer Google-DMO webinars and in- Director of SEO & Partnership person events Google Program Manager Kentucky Department of Tourism launched the first-in-the-nation statewide cooperative program for DMOs to manage their presence on Google Destination Perception

Products

Search YouTube Street View Trips App Travel Guides Maps

Map Listings

Hotels Restaurants Museums Parks Etc. “Stitching Together The Process of Travel Planning” Comprehensiveness Trust Ease of Use ● Google & Travel Planning ○ Touring Bird ○ “My Trips” Functionality ○ Hotel Finder, Hotel Listings What’s ○ Advertising Updates Happening in ○ Destination Travel Guides Travel on ○ Google ● News for Travel Businesses ○ New Insights Data in GMB ○ Vacation Rental Changes on the Horizon ○ Reserve With Google Expanding

Google introduced a new travel product pilot in September.

The name Touring Bird (and T.BD logo) came from a play off of the product’s lack of name while being developed (TBD) The product focuses on tours and activities, includes user- generated content elements and a strong ecommerce focus. Top Sights and Tours & Activities get top billing Paid tours generate a referral to the tour company’s website Local Tips features “DIY” recommended by local travel experts. Free Tours and tours categorized by interests that are custom to that market. TouringBird.com “My Trips” Functionality Trips App My Trips customizes your search experience based on confirmed travel reservations in

Samples courtesy of Google’s Blog: Stitching Your Trip Plans Together Across Google https://www.blog.google/products/flights-hotels/stitching-your-trip-plans-together- across-google/ Pick up planning where you left off - Prices you are tracking - Hotel searches - Places you have saved

Samples courtesy of Google’s Blog: Stitching Your Trip Plans Together Across Google https://www.blog.google/products/flights-hotels/stitching-your-trip-plans-together- across-google/ Improved Hotel Finder & Hotel Listing Experience Mobile Vs Traditional Device Preference For Travel Selection & Booking Tasks

~20% No Strong Preference Why Improve ~50% Desktop? Prefer Traditional ~30% Devices Prefer Mobile

State of the American Traveler Survey: Mobile Edition July 2018 Hotel Finder Redesign

More of a card- based look for properties

Reduces the total size of the map

Increases the volume of content available & search functionality NEW! Hotel Listings

Significantly larger & more robust than previous Knowledge Panel design NEW! Price Insights

Hotel price alerts

Comparison to nearby properties

Save & track rates

Price trends over time NEW! Hotel Location Score

Nearby things to do and transportation Advertising Updates Hotel Ads

Real-time pricing from OTAs & hotel direct

Link directly to the provider Room Selection Ads w/ Direct Booking

Bookings “powered by Google”

Reservation sent to provider ● Google Hotel Ads becoming part of the platform What’s Next: ○ Bidding dimensions like LOS & check in day ○ Machine learning-based smart bidding to Google maximize ROI ○ Hotel groups can organize properties by Hotel Ads brand and class ● New Hotel Center on the horizon ○ Optimize & manage hotel price feeds Google Hotel Ads Google Hotel Ads Callouts Search PPC Hotel Display PPC Advertising Gmail Ads YouTube Video Ads Call Ads App Promotion Ads Dynamic Search Ads use content from your website to target your ads NEW! to searches. Dynamic Search Ads Travel Guide Updates Travel Guides Google Travel Guides Feature: Image gallery

Top Sights Google DMO Partnership Program Articles & Video

Itineraries

Booking Travel Guide Articles Articles Block

March 2018

Google DMO Only direct link to Partnership Program a DMO website

Shows as “Google/Organic” in analytics Identify your top-ranking organic articles in the topics that are featured for your market

“Best of” and “Family friendly” are seen in most Article markets

Optimization “Top” and “Best” things to do lists perform well

Include name of the market prominently in title, including state or state abbreviation Air + Hotel Packages Flight + Hotel

Recently added to “Plan a Trip” Expanded Categories in Top Sights Recent Top Sights updates include more:

Performing arts Google DMO venues Partnership Program Sports stadiums

Wineries/Distilleries

There have been some changes to the business categories that appear in Top Sights based on feedback from program participants. Adding General Destination Images Posting Photos to generic city/region etc. The photos in the header of your Travel Guide are currently being pulled from all maps (Local Guide) contributions. This is good, because it means your contributions have a shot at displacing images in the header. BUT, there’s only one method currently for uploading images that will place them in competition for the header, and it’s not super easy. Select images that aren’t of a single place - look for aerials, skylines, broad landscapes, etc. ● Start with the “photos” app on the phone. ● Select one or more photos then share ● then select “Add to Maps”. ● Click the name in blue at the top of the screen where Google *thinks* the image was taken. ● Select “Somewhere else” at the bottom. ● Start typing the name of the city, region or state in the search box. ● Click the name of the destination in the suggestions list. ● Click “Select” ● Click the submit button. ● You’ll get a confirmation message and you’re done! Rinse and repeat... Google Street View Google Street View DMOs can capture their own driving Street View imagery News For Travel Businesses GMB Insights Data Update NEW! Branded Search Queries NEW! Photo View Tracking vs. Competitors

! NEW! Queries used to find your business NEW! What your business is known for Vacation Rental Changes on the Horizon Google has signaled intent to add Vacation Rentals to lodging search

The focus of the initial rollout is targeting Vacation Rental Managers rather than individual property owners Google’s policies for vacation rentals in Google My Business still prohibit individual properties from being included

https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en Testing vacation rental integration in European markets Individual units featured Bookable by major providers via Hotel Ads, not individual owners/agencies “Reserve with Google” Features Reserve with Google was originally limited to fitness and beauty - hair salons, trainers, massage, yoga, etc There are now some interesting integrations coming soon including tickets for museums attractions and events NEW!

“Reserve With Google” expands reservation & booking options to more business categories

Watch for reservation integration options in your GMB dashboard ● Google & Travel Planning ○ Touring Bird ○ “My Trips” Functionality ○ Hotel Finder, Hotel Listings What’s ○ Advertising Updates Happening in ○ Destination Travel Guides Travel on ○ Google Street View Google ● News for Travel Businesses ○ New Insights Data in GMB ○ Vacation Rental Changes on the Horizon ○ Reserve With Google Expanding Thanks!

November 2018 Changes to Entities with Travel Guides Recent updates include Travel Guides showing up for large resorts. This was first documented in October 2018. Google DMO Previously guides had Partnership Program been present for cities/towns, counties, states and nationally designated parks, forests and wildlife areas. The first major expansion of cities/towns covered by Travel Guides took place during the summer of 2017. The recent update expands the types of locations that are covered by Travel Guides. Not all state parks are covered by Travel Guides (so far), but we’ve seen more presence for them recently. If you have Google DMO a nearby state park Partnership Program that drives visitation, it would be worth checking into whether a guide now appears in related search results. State parks had their own Travel Guides for a brief period previously, but were seemingly removed in the early part of 2018. Some state parks have started to reappear with Travel Guides this fall.