The Google policy for prices exists to ensure a good end-to-end experience for users engaging with your prices on Google for both ads and free booking links. We evaluate price accuracy based on the following criteria:
- When a user clicks through from Google’s site to the partner’s booking page, the total price on the booking page must be prominently displayed, be the same as the total price displayed on Google’s site, and be for an overnight stay (no day use rates).
- The booking page must follow our Taxes and Fees Policy, which ensures all mandatory rates, taxes, and fees are fully disclosed without requiring additional user action.
- The hotel booking flow must follow our Referral Experience Policy, which is intended to make sure there is a friendly user experience when clicking off of Google’s site.
- Refundable rates must be specified according to our refundable rates policy.
- Violation of the Prohibited Practices Policy may cause price accuracy penalties and account suspension.
On this page
- About your price accuracy score
- Price requirements
- How Google enforces price accuracy
- Ask Google to reconsider a suspension decision
- Best practices for your ads and free booking links
Booking page: This is the page on the partner’s site where the user has selected a room rate and (in most cases) can start entering purchasing details (for example, name or credit card).
Landing page: This is the page the user is sent to on a partner’s site before taking any additional action and is often a room selection page for a specific hotel. In some cases, the landing page may also be the booking page.About your price accuracy score
Google computes a score for each partner that provides rates based on how often prices are compliant with our policy. This price accuracy score informs partners about whether their prices are considered accurate and is used as a basis for potential penalties Google may give to partners. Your overall (current) price accuracy score and your predicted price accuracy score can range from Excellent to Failed.
Regardless of your price accuracy score, certain itineraries may not be shown to users due to inaccurate prices. These itineraries will be automatically re-evaluated and enabled when the issue is resolved. We recommend checking your price accuracy report, using the Hotel ID filter, and fixing any price mismatches. Learn how to check your recent price samples.
The table below describes the possible values for your price accuracy score:
| Key | Score | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | Your score reflects an excellent experience for users. Your ads and free booking links get preference in positioning. | |
| Fair | Your score reflects a fair experience for users. This has a negative impact on your auction positioning, advertising cost, and free booking links placement. | |
| Poor | Your score reflects a poor experience for users. This has a negative impact on your auction positioning, advertising cost, and free booking links placement. | |
| At Risk |
Your score is almost below the acceptable threshold. Some prices may still be shown to users, but most of your ads and free booking links will be turned off. If your score falls below this threshold, all of your ads and free booking links will be turned off. |
|
| Placement below this threshold causes your ads and free booking links to be turned off. | ||
| Failed | Your score is below the acceptable threshold. Your ads and free booking links will be turned off. | |
How price accuracy scores are calculated
To calculate your price accuracy scores, Google will regularly validate the price the user is presented with when landing on the partner's site and navigating through to the final booking page. This validation may be done with a combination of automated tools and manual processes.
Google may not check every price offered to users, but, at a minimum, chooses a representative sample. For partners who don’t have the booking happen on your site (for example, metasearch partners who take users to another site), Google will still validate the price through the final partner's booking page or your landing page.
Based on your overall price accuracy score, you're assigned a value of Excellent, Fair, Poor, At Risk, or Failed, as described above.
Where partners can find their price accuracy scores
Information about your account's price accuracy can be found in the price accuracy report. This report reflects your overall (current) and predicted accuracy scores, score trends, and a sample of recent inaccuracies in your ads and free booking links that we've identified.
Price requirements
By adhering to the requirements described here, not only can you keep your price accuracy score high and ensure the best performance on Google, but you’ll also provide users with a great hotel booking experience that will help maximize conversions for your ads and free booking links.
Price
- Prices must be accurate and bookable online: the total price that users view on a partner's site must match what they viewed on Google for their selected itinerary and be a complete representation of the price. Users must be able to complete the booking at that price and the transaction must result in a confirmed booking at the hotel within 24 hours.
- If you provide prices for multiple rooms, the rate shown on Google must match what the user is shown for the pre-selected combination of rooms on the partner website.
- Optional payments, fees, and services must not be included in the total price by default on Google or the partner site.
Taxes and fees
- Taxes and fees must represent all mandatory charges collected by the partner or the hotel, regardless of when they‘re due.
- For example, if a boat transfer is required to stay at the hotel, and the boat transfer fee is collected by the hotel, then that fee must be a part of the total price provided to Google.
- Resort fees must be included in the total price provided to Google.
- Taxes and fees must not be manipulated to create an artificially low base rate. If your taxes and fees seem unusually high compared to other partners, we may display your price as a total price even in countries where we display a base rate by default.
- Taxes and fees are intended to include mandatory hotel or government-levied taxes and fees. Our policy does not allow partner-specific fees, commissions, and profits to be excluded from the base price and solely shown in the total price.
- Taxes and fees must be clearly disclosed on the final booking page without requiring additional user action.
The section above applies to taxes and fees collected during the online booking process and onsite at the hotel. Learn more about our Taxes and Fees Policy.
Rates
Several rate type clarifications are provided below.
| Rate type | Definition |
|---|---|
| Occupancy |
The price displayed on the partner's landing page and booking page must be for the occupancy that was selected by the user on Google. The number of guests the room can accommodate must be greater than or equal to the occupancy selected by the user on Google. |
| Check-in and check-out date | The price displayed on the partner's landing page and booking page must be for the check-in and check-out dates selected by the user on Google. |
| Day-use rates | Rates that have the same check-in and check-out date aren’t supported. A rate advertised on Google must be for a minimum of an overnight stay. (Overnight means 12 hours of continuous duration with a separate check-in and check-out date.) |
| Member rates |
These rates are subject to the following conditions:
For a free membership program, partners can offer customized rates to users who are already a member of (or are willing to sign up for) the partners’ membership or loyalty program. The sign-up must be free of charge for rates that are targeted to non-existing members and membership must be granted immediately after sign-up. For a paid membership program, members agree to pay a recurring membership fee or an upfront fee for benefits towards future stays, room upgrades, dining discounts, and more. Partners can offer rates by targeting them towards existing members through audience lists. These rates can’t be targeted to non-existing members. |
| Refundable rates |
Refundable rates must be specified according to our refundable rates policy. This information must be clearly available on the landing page and final booking page without requiring additional user action. “Free cancellation until <date/time>” must indicate the latest date and time, in the local time of the hotel, that a full refund request (including taxes and fees) will be honored. If there is a time on your site, you must send that time when you configure your refundable rates If no time is specified, the value defaults to midnight (00.00). For example, default/unset |
| Conditional rates |
Rates based on specific user conditions can be implemented as conditional rates. We accept rates based on:
We don’t accept rates based on other conditions, including (but not limited to):
|
| Accessible room rates | Accessible rooms are held for someone who needs mobility accommodations. We accept these rates only if an alternative rate for the same room type isn’t available and when no verification is required to book that rate. |
| Gender-specific room rates | We accept rates for gender-specific rooms. This doesn’t require conditional rate implementation. |
How Google enforces price accuracy
Google checks individual prices for compliance with our price accuracy policy. A combination of automated and human evaluation are used to ensure compliance with our policies. Automated systems allow us to do broad and frequent checks, while more complex cases are reviewed and evaluated by trained human operators. The aggregate of checks results in a partner price accuracy score that affects the auction positioning and advertising cost for ads and the placement for free booking links. Detected violations lower a partner’s score. Based on the scope of violations, Google may take the following actions:
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Lower your average accuracy score for an entire price feed. This reduction in score can lead to a negative impact on your auction positioning and advertising cost for ads and your placement for free booking links.
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Suspend an individual hotel from your feed if recurring issues are found with a specific hotel. Visit the “Single hotels” section below for more detail.
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Suspend your account if you don't show the ability to comply with price accuracy policies. Visit the “Account-wide” section below for more detail.
Suspensions are handled by human operators.
Consistent inaccuracies account-wide
In addition to penalizing for low price accuracy scores, Google may take further action in more serious cases. If your account can't comply with the price accuracy policy:
- Google will notify you of the issue.
- Your Hotel Center account may be suspended.
- Google will reinstate a suspended account only after your price accuracy returns to an acceptable level.
Consistent inaccuracies on single hotels
If the accuracy rate for a particular hotel drops below an acceptable threshold, Google reserves the right to:
- Add the hotel to a suspension list.
- Disable ads and free booking links for that hotel.
You can use the “Suspended Hotels” page to find your currently suspended properties. Properties suspended due to consistently inaccurate prices are periodically validated. Once your prices are fixed, your property will be removed from the suspension list automatically after the next validation.
Note: Other hotels in your account aren’t affected.Price validation interruptions
Google validates prices by periodically using automated and manual tools to access your web site. Interruptions to this validation process can occur for a variety of reasons, including site outages, DOS denials, and roboting.
If the validation is interrupted, you must work collaboratively with Google to promptly identify the source of the issue and rectify it so that the validations can resume. Failure to do so will cause your score to be considered Failed.
Ask Google to reconsider a suspension decision
If you disagree with a suspension decision and want us to reconsider our position, you may submit an appeal within six months from the date of suspension. An appeal form has been provided within the suspension notification email. Please note that after the end of this six-month period, you will no longer be allowed to ask us to reconsider our decision.
Only one appeal can be submitted per suspension decision. Please refrain from the repeated submission of unfounded appeals. Before submitting an appeal please ensure you understand Google policies. At the time of submitting an appeal be sure to include clear and convincing evidence as to why Google should reconsider our decision. Failure to do so might prevent you from being allowed to submit an appeal in the future.
Once an appeal is submitted, your request will be promptly reviewed and Google will get back to you with a decision. If your appeal is unsuccessful, you will be required to resolve any policy violations to be in compliance with Google's policies, in order for the suspension to be lifted.
For EU users covered by the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA)
Review the European Union Digital Service Act resolution options for additional appeal options.
Best practices for your ads and free booking links
This section describes best practices for keeping your ads and free booking links active.
Base price, taxes and fees, and total price setup
- For new partners: Google performs a price accuracy check before activating your account and listing your rates and availability. Without a consistently Excellent score, your activation will be delayed (or prevented).
- Google may display different parts of the price based on region or other criteria, as outlined in the Taxes and Fees Policy. We recommend the price on your landing page exactly matches the one displayed on Google.
- We recommend showing the total price, including a breakdown of all taxes and fees, on your landing page.
Updating rates
- If you’re using pull pricing, ensure that the prices are updated several times a day to reflect the most current prices.
- If you’re using ARI or changed pricing, ensure that prices are updated on Google whenever they’re changed in your system.
- When Google validates prices, we check them in the currency that a user would find on Google. The price is validated against what’s shown to the user on your site. You don’t need to send us all prices for the various countries and currencies you support. To prevent currency conversion issues, we recommend that you keep your site’s conversions updated every few hours.
- If the prices in Google's price cache don't match the prices on your site, the data might be out of date. Google offers a sampling of the actual inaccuracies with the Hotel Center and the Travel Partner API. When these inaccuracies indicate stale data, refreshing the data in Google's cache can often rectify price accuracy related issues. For changed pricing partners, you may include an expiration time with the rates you send to avoid them from becoming stale. You can download a price accuracy report in Hotel Center that compares the Google cached prices to the retrieved prices. For more information, visit the price accuracy report.
Landing page layout
For more information, refer to the Referral Experience Policy.
- If you’re planning changes to your website design and layout, please contact us at the earliest, as it can take 2 weeks or more for Google to make any changes necessary to its retrieval mechanism. If you block Google from retrieving prices or make any changes to your landing pages or booking pages, including HTML or DOM changes that may be invisible to the user, Google might fail to gather pricing information from your site. This can negatively impact your accuracy score, ranking in the auction, minimum bid for ads, and free booking links placement.