Listing feed troubleshooting

Lodging partners who share their property list through a hosted server can now view the latest status of their feed, as well as the configuration settings used by Google, directly in Hotel Centre. This information will be displayed in the following sections:

On the main Overview page, there is a card titled 'Listing feed status'. For more information, refer to this article.
On the Properties page, the 'Summary' card now includes a 'Feed status'. For more information, refer to this article.
On the Settings page under 'Properties', the 'Summary' card now includes a 'Feed status'. Additionally, this page now features a 'Configuration' section that highlights the feed's configuration. For more information, refer to this article.

A hotel property list feed can be in one of three states:

Healthy: The property list feed is healthy and no action is required from the partner at this time.
In progress: The property list is currently being fetched and processed. No action is required from the partner at this time.
Needs attention: There was an issue with either fetching or processing the most recently fetched property list. This may result in delays in publishing the property list. Refer to the troubleshooting section below for guidance on addressing issues with the most recently fetched property list.

Using the property list validator tool

The property list validator is an essential tool within Hotel Centre designed to significantly improve the onboarding experience for both hotels and holiday rentals. This tool allows you to upload and pre-validate your property list feeds, which are accepted in the below-mentioned formats:

The core function is to systematically check the uploaded file for format, structural and completeness errors before it is formally fetched and ingested by Google. The primary goal of this early detection is to provide clear, actionable feedback, thereby eliminating the prolonged back and forth communication with support teams to resolve issues. By catching these issues upfront, the validator ensures the acceleration of the entire process, leading to quicker overall onboarding times.

Note: The property list validator tool is not designed to validate content accuracy. For example, we check that the format of an address is correct, but we don't check that the address actually points to the correct property location.

This option gives you the flexibility to upload files that haven't already been fetched by Google. As an onboarding partner, you will use this to validate your property list before we formally fetch and process your feed.

The validation results are intuitive and tiered. It displays what fields have issues for each property provided. The system uses a red icon to denote a critical error that entirely prevents successful processing and a green icon for issues that pass validation. Furthermore, it explicitly reports any issues encountered during the initial file upload. This streamlined, precise reporting mechanism ensures that you can efficiently diagnose and resolve data quality problems for a smooth and rapid integration.

Feed needs attention troubleshooting

The below sections outline the various reasons why a hotel property list may need attention and the actions that you can take to resolve the issues.

An error occurred during file acquisition

An issue encountered during file acquisition, preventing Google from fetching the property list. Common reasons for this include missing files at the targeted fetch endpoint, changes to credentials (username or password) and/or firewall restrictions.

For checking missing files: In the left-hand menu of your Hotel Centre, navigate to the Settings page under 'Properties'. In the 'Configuration' section of that page, review your feed's current configuration. Make sure that the files are present at the target URL(s) listed on that page. If any files are missing, add them and Google will retrieve the property list the next time that the feed is fetched.
For credential changes: If credentials have been changed, Google needs to update the feed configuration before the property list can be successfully fetched. Use the Contact Us form provided below to get in touch with Google.
For firewall restrictions: Make sure that the fetch URL listed on the 'Configuration' card on the Settings page under 'Properties' is not blocked by any firewalls. Google does not guarantee the IP range that may be used to fetch partners' property lists.

Invalid XML schema

Google was able to successfully fetch the property list, but the file(s) did not meet the hotel list feed XML specifications. Use xmllint to validate the files. Once the issues have been resolved, Google will retrieve the updated property list based on the schedule defined on the 'Configuration' card on the Settings page under 'Properties'.

If the files have been fixed and deployed to the fetch endpoint, then no further action is required and Google does not need to be notified.

Tip: If the file is not formatted as an XML file (i.e. pretty printed with consistent new lines and indentation), run the command xmllint ––format property_list.xml > formatted_file.xml. After running this command, re-run the xmllint check on the formatted file and the lines with issues will be clearly defined.

Invalid file extensions

All files that Google fetches must have either a .xml extension (for a single file) or .zip extension (for multiple files). If the extension is missing, Google will be unable to determine the file type of your property list. Make sure that all files hosted on your server have the correct file extension.

An error occurred during processing

An issue occurred while processing the property list. Please wait at least one week for Google to attempt to process the file before getting in touch.

If the property list has not been processed after a week, use the Contact Us form to get in touch with Google.

Significant property list changes detected

Google detected significant changes to your property list. The most common cause for this is that the number of properties in the property list changed significantly (this includes both additions and subtractions).

Another potential common reason for Google detecting significant changes is the addition or removal of key information, such as phone numbers or website URLs, across a majority of the properties in the feed. These can be key components used for matching, so Google wants to ensure that these changes are intended by partners before proceeding.

If you are aware that these changes are intentional and want to resolve this issue as quickly as possible, the best approach is to contact Google via the Contact Us form. In your initial message, mention that the changes made to the property list were intentional. Also, provide an estimate of how many properties are in the property list, which Google will use to verify the feed's validity.

If the changes are not intentional, there is no need to contact Google. Simply make the required fixes and the next time that Google fetches the property list, we will retrieve and process the remediated files.

No recent fetches

Google has not fetched a new version of your property list in a long time, which probably means that the property inventory that you've shared with Google is stale. If you are having difficulty updating the property list, use the Contact Us form to get in touch with Google.

Still having issues? Get in touch via the Contact Us form.

Was this helpful?

How can we improve it?