As revenue managers and hotel ecommerce directors try to anticipate how the projected rise of the metamediaries will shake up online booking , Google has been making the biggest moves so far . In the past four years the search giant has introduced Google Hotel Price Ads , Google Wallet , Google Hotel Finder , Google Maps Business View for hotels and the organic search results carousel , all of which are impacting online booking .

“ Google ’ s entrance into metasearch has had a significant impact on the industry ,” says Cindy Estis Green , CEO , Kalibri Labs . “ It has put a spotlight on metasearch and triggered many other companies to get into the game . The Google Hotel Finder and carousel products are examples of how they are entering into a merchandising platform rather than their early role as a search engine .”

One of the newest outreach to hotels from Google is the Google Maps Business View . Best Western International , Phoenix , announced in October 2013 its partnership to have each of its North American properties featured on Google Maps Business View , which provides a 360-degree

view of lobbies , breakfast rooms and guestrooms included within the Google Street View feature of the Google Maps application as well as integration into Google ’ s new carousel feature for hotel search results . Best Western is on track to have all its 2,200 North American properties featured by the end of 2014 .

“ It ’ s still early , but we are seeing double-digit increases in web traffic through this initiative ,” says Dorothy Dowling , Best Western ’ s senior vice president , marketing and sales . “ We believe that engaging with consumers through this interactive technology is not only what consumers are going to expect moving forward when they are researching purchasing decisions online , but will ultimately drive the consumer to make the purchase .”

The future moves of Google in online travel will be closely watched , and the company says it plans to work with more hotel companies to offer Google Wallet Instant Buy to streamline the mobile purchasing flow and improve conversions . “ Companies like Hilton Worldwide , LQ Management and Priceline have begun accepting Google Wallet

“ WE ARE SEEING DOUBLE-DIGIT INCREASES IN WEB TRAFFIC THROUGH THIS INITIATIVE .”

– DOROTHY DOWLING , BEST WESTERN INTERNATIONAL

on their apps or mobile sites , and many are seeing increases in bookings and return purchases ,” says David Pavelko , Google ’ s travel partnerships director .

Meanwhile , opinion is divided as to whether Google will decide to grab a slice of the online travel booking revenue pie by becoming its own online travel agency , at the risk of jeopardizing its advertising revenue from the hotel industry and online travel agencies .

“ I believe that Google truly does want to organize the world ’ s information and monetize that information through advertising — Google is all about democratizing and providing efficient access to information ,” says Robert Cole , hotel technology consultant and founder of RockCheetah , Menomonee Falls , Wisconsin . “ What may hold back Google from being innovative in certain areas is the unwillingness to cut out advertisers in the name of consumer efficiency . When they overstep , they get a lot of blowback . I think there will never be Googlebranded hotels or an online travel agency — they do not want to directly compete with organizations that are their advertisers .”

56 HOTELS May 2014 www . hotelsmag . com