The integration with Google Vacation Rentals helps you bring more potential guests to your website for direct bookings.
✨ Feature exclusive to the Professional and Ultimate Plan!
Read about:
- Requirements to connect to Google Vacation Rentals
- The flow for guests
- Connect Lodgify to Google Vacation Rentals
- Unlisting rentals from Google Vacation Rentals
- Synchronizations
Requirements to connect to Google Vacation Rentals
Before setting up the connection with Google Vacation rentals, you should be aware of certain requirements imposed by Google in order to use this integration.
-
Each rental must:
- have a Name and description (beyond just the name).
- have at least 1 bed.
- allow no more than 15 guests.
-
have at least 5 photos with captions.
Each image should be at least 720 pixels wide and at least 720 pixels high. The aspect ratio should be 4:3. - not be registered as a hotel in Google.
- Your website must have a logo image and a matching favicon. Learn how to add a logo and favicon.
- The rental type must be one of the following: Boat, Bungalow, Chalet, Farm House, Mobile House, Apartment, House, Room, Student Housing, or Villa. This is set in the Overview of your rental.
- Your website must be published. Learn how to publish your website.
The flow for guests
Guests can find your rental and its availability via Google, where they can then click on "Learn More" to see a Google landing page for your rental. On this landing page, they will see:
- The logo and domain of your Lodgify website
- Your rental's name and photos
- Property details such as property type, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, maximum occupancy, amenities
- The price per night (net in the US, gross everywhere else)
- The option to "Visit site" which redirects guests to your website to finalize their booking
Once redirected, your guest will be on the Overview page of the rental they found on Google Vacation Rentals. From there they can go on to your checkout to complete the booking as normal or navigate further through your site.
Connect Lodgify to Google Vacation Rentals
Whilst you can easily set up the connection with Google Vacation Rentals yourself, do keep in mind that the completion of the connection process is done by Google Vacation Rentals. This can take a few days or weeks, depending on the number of listings and size of your listings. For example: if you have many listings with many photos, it will take longer.
To connect:
- Go to your Main Menu in the top left corner and select Channel Manager.
- Click on the Google card List Rentals:
- You will see a list of your rentals that are both completed and assigned to a website, and their status. The next step depends on the statuses of your listings:
Status Explanation Not listed The rental has not been sent to Google yet, as the connection process with Google hasn't been started yet.
To start the connection process:- Click List.
- If your rentals do not yet meet all of Google's requirements, you will see a list of requirements to be fulfilled.
- Click on the links to the far right to review and adjust your settings.
- Then click Refresh.
- Once all requirements have been filled, clicking List will start the connection process.
Waiting for Google
Lodgify has validated your rentals and added them to Google's feed.
It is now up to Google to determine whether your listings can go live.
Missing Requirements This status displays if your rental could not be verified, or if you've changed a previously validated rental in a way that it no longer meets the requirements.
To resolve this, click Edit to see what needs changing.
Error type is... It means... Critical You must perform changes in order to fill the requirements to list on Google Vacation Rentals. Recommendation We strongly recommend these changes in order to optimize your rental's settings. Listed Your listing has now been verified and listed by Google.
💡 Note: Once published, you may not be able to search for or to see your rental on Google Vacation Rentals.
This is because Google Vacation Rentals works like a metasearch. The results are based on a specific algorithm, so the position and visibility of a rental depends on many factors. Lodgify can therefore not force the listing to appear, as there are many unknown variables involved in the results.
Unlisting rentals from Google Vacation Rentals
You can easily unlist your rentals.
To unlist a rental:
- Go to your Main Menu in the top left corner and select Channel Manager.
- You will see a list of your connected rentals.
- Click Edit behind the listing you want to disconnect, and select Unlist.
💡 Note: It can take up to 48 hours for the rental to be unlisted.
Synchronizations
The below tables show which settings are synchronized with Google Vacation Rentals.
Pricing
The below information is regarding the default and season rates.
| Setting | Synch | Notes |
| Add-ons | ❌ |
Guests will see the options for add-ons once they reach your checkout only. |
|
Currency |
✅ | |
| Cancellation policy | ❌ | Guests will see your cancellation policy in your checkout only. |
| Security deposit | ❌ | Guests will see your security deposit policy in your checkout only. |
| Derived rates | ❌ |
Google Vacation Rentals will use the same rates as your Lodgify checkout. |
|
Extra charge per guest |
✅ | |
| Fees | ✅ | |
|
Minimum stay and minimum stay per weekday |
✅ | |
|
Nightly override |
✅ | |
|
Nightly price |
✅ | |
|
Payment policy |
❌ | Guests will see your payment policy in your checkout. |
|
Price per weekday |
✅ | |
|
Promotions |
✅ |
💡 Note: Only promotions without a promo code will be synchronized.
If a rental has multiple promotions without a code, only the promotion offering the guest the best price will apply. |
|
Rates info |
❌ | |
|
Rental agreement |
❌ | |
|
Short stay price |
✅ | |
|
Taxes (including sales tax) |
✅ | |
|
Weekly/Monthly price (Length of stay prices) |
✅ |
Availability
| Setting | Synch | Notes |
| Advance notice | ✅ |
|
|
Booking window |
✅ |
|
| Check-in and check-out days | ✅ | |
| Check-in and check-out times | ✅ |
|
| Preparation time |
|
|
| Unavailabilities | ✅ |
Calendar blocks created by the following will show as unavailable dates on Google Vacation Rentals:
|
| Units | ✅ |
Units will not be shown to guests. However, if you have for example 3 units set up in Lodgify, then you can receive three different bookings for the same rentals and dates. |
Content
| Setting | Synch | Notes |
|
Amenities |
✅ |
|
|
Contact details |
✅ |
The phone number from the Contact section in your Rentals will be sent to Google Vacation Rentals. |
|
Custom map |
❌ |
|
|
Description |
✅ |
|
|
Directions |
❌ |
|
|
Distances |
❌ |
|
|
Internal name |
❌ |
|
|
Location |
✅ |
Address, latitude and longitude will be synchronized. |
|
Photos |
✅ |
In order to be synchronized, your images must have a caption. |
|
Rental info |
✅ |
|
|
Rental type |
✅ |
💡 Note: Your rental must be set to any of the following, else Google will not accept your listing:
|
|
Sleeping arrangement |
✅ |
Your rental must have at least 1 bed. |
|
Title |
✅ |
💡 Note: If you use the legacy feature Room Types, then your title will be composed as follows: "Roomtype + rental title". |