Google Travel adds vacation rentals alongside hotels in search results

Google is making moves that further blur the line between hotels and private accommodations.

The search giant says searches for “beach rentals” and “staycations” grew by more than 100% globally in the last year and now it wants to better serve that interest by combining vacation rentals and hotels in one comprehensive search result for a destination.

Beginning today, consumers that search for accommodations in a specific destination may see both hotels and vacation rentals in the search results on google.com/travel. 

The “vacation rentals” filter – launched in 2019 – remains for users that want to limit results to only non-hotel properties, but without that filter the default display will show both types of accommodations.

Google says results are ranked organically based on relevance to the user’s query. The company would not provide a list of current supply partners, but searches on the site show listings from Tripadvisor, Vacasa, Red Awning, Sonder, Rentals United and others.

Vrbo listings had been on the site for nearly two years but in its earnings call in February, Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern announced the company had pulled them, saying, “We didn’t find investment in the Google vacation rental product particularly incremental, we didn’t think the customer experience was particularly valuable and we are of course also having a period where we are seeing great direct traffic for Vrbo. So we found other ways, and I’d argue more profitable ways, to drive traffic.”

It's unclear at this stage whether properties from Booking.com and Airbnb are participating in the vacation rental search.

Google announced the new combined hotels and vacation rental search product Thursday morning during its Google Marketing Live online event. 

“We’ve seen growing and sustained interest in vacation rentals since the start of the pandemic and have evolved our product accordingly to meet those user preferences. This launch is the first time that we’re showing results that combine both hotels and vacation rentals when a user is looking for a place to stay,” says a company spokesperson via email.

Industry reaction

But while this is a first for Google, the idea of surfacing both hotels and rentals in one search result has been offered for some time from online travel agencies such as Booking.com, which says it has more than six million alternative accommodation listings, and Expedia Group, which is ramping up visibility of Vrbo listings on its OTA brands.

“From an innovator Google has become a mere imitator,” says Max Starkov, a hospitality and travel technology consultant.

“Last year Airbnb, Vrbo and other vacation rental players took 29% of the accommodation demand - versus 19% in 2019 - and Google is finally paying attention to this sector.”

Mirai CEO Pablo Delgado echoes that sentiment, saying it is “nothing new or disruptive,” but he says, “This change is a huge opportunity for vacation rentals to get incremental demand as most of today's Google consumers are looking for hotels. Incrementality is the word that matters, and that demand will be lost for hotels. So in the short term, hotels lose.”

Tim Choate, CEO of Red Awning, a Google rental supply partner, sees this combination of hotels and rentals as a recognition of a shift taking place in consumers' mindsets.

“I think this change at Google reflects the fact that vacation rentals have become core accommodations, not alternative accommodations,” Choate says.

“For leisure travel, in fact, vacation rentals are often now the preferred choice with hotels being the ‘alternative’ when the right vacation property isn't available. If anyone in the industry knows what those travelers are seeking, it’s Google, so this is a great recognition of the fact that vacation rentals are what travelers are searching for.”

Starkov says hoteliers can position themselves to capture some of this evolving demand by “offering weekly and monthly rates, promoting their suites and family accommodations, advertising their cleanliness protocols and the fact that they are not charging cleaning fees versus $75 to $350 per stay [at some rentals], positioning their property as the ‘hero of the destination.’”

Rentals' profile keeps growing

This new update is just the latest in Google’s evolving search services related to vacation rentals. 

Google first began surfacing vacation rentals in March 2019 when it added the “vacation rentals” filter to hotel search on google.com/travel, as well as a “vacation rentals” unit on results for queries such as “vacation rentals in Boston.”

Last summer Google updated the system so anyone using the filter would be directed to a new “vacation rentals” tab on google.com/travel, which can also be used to search directly for those listings. Today's update brings vacation rental properties into the general accommodations' search results on google.com/travel.

Google’s search result data regarding vacation rental-related searches mimics trends seen elsewhere. Brands such as Airbnb and Vrbo have seen demand surge in the past year as some travelers have sought private, socially distanced accommodations.

Research out this week from Deloitte finds more than a quarter (28%) of travelers have stayed at a private rental for the first time during the pandemic or plan to this summer. And eight in 10 who are choosing a rental for their 2021 summer vacation say they expect to stay in rentals for at least half of future trips.

But many consumers do consider both hotels and rentals – meaning Google’s update should be good news to them.

Deloitte finds rental travelers are more likely to cross-shop, with 53% saying they are also considering hotels compared to just 15% of hotel travelers considering rentals. 

Along with updates to vacation rental displays in search, Google will now automatically surface Hotel Ads feed data within search text ads extensions.

For hotel advertisers, this means things like landing page, hotel, price and availability are pulled from their existing feed and used in search campaigns. Google says the extension is currently available to a limited group of advertisers and will be rolled out more broadly in the coming weeks.

Google is also updating its pay-per-stay, also known as commissions (per stay) program introduced last June as a way to help ad partners manage cancellation risk.

To make reconciliation easier, Google is providing a per-booking report in Google Ads that hoteliers can use to confirm which bookings were canceled and which were stayed. Advertisers can also see post-cancellation performance metrics.

*PhocusWire contacted Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com for comment for this story but none of those companies responded.

Later this year, Google will introduce bid adjustment support for pay-per-stay campaigns so advertisers can adjust rates by dimensions such as check-in day of the week or stay date.