Google has replicated their freemium business model by introducing free hotel booking links in its Google Hotel Ads (GHA) program.

The same underlying principle is used in the Google Ads Program (GA) and its sponsored listings (paid search) vs free/organic listings.

Or by Expedia and its Travel Ads sponsored listings.

Google has been trying, quite unsuccessfully, for over 14 years now, to lure more independent hotels to join the GHA program.

Though a decade too late, Google has resorted to its masterful freemium model: give every hotel a free booking link listing, flooding each destination with booking options thus forcing hotels, OTAs and other booking sites to compete for visibility by buying sponsored listings.

Example, if Google lists for free all 700 hotels in New York City in its GHA, what chance does your property have to be noticed, unless it bought a sponsored listing i.e. a paid GHA listing? Nil.

Google's latest move is nothing more than returning to the old Yellow Pages business model: every business gets a free listing, but in order to stand out from the competition, you need to buy a sponsored listing.

Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant & Strategist

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