Brand support in Hotel Center

You can assign icons and display names to the set of properties belonging to a brand. The below sections outline how to update brands in Hotel Center. You can also update brands using our Travel Partner API.

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How to associate your properties to brands

You can associate properties to brands by using the List XML Reference client_attr. Refer to this article for instructions on how to use the List XML Reference.

Specify the brand ID in the XML format provided below:

<client_attr name="hotel_brand">brand_ID</client_attr>.

Note: Each property can only be associated with a single brand.

How to configure brands and icons in Hotel Center

This section provides multiple sets of instructions on how to upload or edit brands, icons, and display names. It applies to both hotels and vacation rentals.

Note: It can take up to 7 business days for your icon or display name to be approved. If your icon or display name isn’t approved, check the reason for its disapproval and fix it. If your icon or display name is still “In review” after 7 days, reach out to your technical account manager. Until approved, your brand will be listed under the status “In review” on the “Brands” page. When replacing an icon or display name, your brand uses the old icon or display name until the new one is approved.

Set an icon for a brand

  1. In your Hotel Center account, navigate to the "Brands" page.
  2. Click Edit next to the brand you want to edit.
  3. Click the Change icon.
  4. Upload a new icon for your brand, or select an existing (previously approved) icon in your icon library.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Address any errors from automated icon checks.
  7. Wait for the icon to be reviewed and approved.
Note: Your brand uses the old icon until the new one is approved.

Update the display name of a brand

  1. In your Hotel Center account, navigate to the "Brands" page.
  2. Click Edit next to the brand you want to edit.
  3. Edit, delete, or add a new display name for your brand in any language.
  4. Click Save.
  5. Wait for the display name to be reviewed and approved.
Note: Your brand uses the old display name until the new one is approved.

Set an icon at the account level

  1. In your Hotel Center account, navigate to the "Brands" page.
  2. Navigate to the “Default settings” tab.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. Upload a new icon or select one from the library.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Address any errors from the automated icon checks.
  7. Wait for icon approval.

Delete an icon and display name from a brand

  1. In your Hotel Center account, navigate to the "Brands" page.
  2. Click Edit next to the brand you want to edit.
  3. Click Reset to default.

Your brand will now be listed with the default icon and display name on the “Brands” page.

Delete only an icon from a brand

  1. In your Hotel Center account, navigate to the "Brands" page.
  2. Click Edit next to the brand you want to edit.
  3. Click Delete next to the icon you want to delete.
  4. Click Save.
Your brand will now be listed with the default icon on the “Brands” page.

Delete only a display name from a brand

  1. In your Hotel Center account, navigate to the "Brands" page.
  2. Click Edit next to the brand you want to edit.
  3. Click Delete next to the display name you want to delete.
  4. Click Save.
Your brand will now be listed with the default display name on the “Brands” page.

Check the status of a new icon or brand name

  1. In your Hotel Center account, navigate to the “Brands” page.
  2. Sort the list of brands using the filters.
  3. If the icon is:
    1. Approved: The icon is approved. Google is now displaying the icon to users for the brand’s associated properties.
    2. In review: Wait up to 7 business days for the review to complete.
    3. Not approved: Understand the reason for the disapproval, fix it, and re-upload the icon.
  4. If the display name is:
    1. Approved: The display name is approved. Google is now displaying the display name to users for the brand’s associated properties.
    2. In review: Wait up to 7 business days for the review to complete.
    3. Not approved: Understand the reason for the disapproval, fix it, and resubmit the display name.

Icon guidelines

Make sure your icons meet the following requirements before uploading:

  • Resolution of at least 72x72 pixels and no more than 1200x1200 pixels
  • Square dimensions only (1:1)
  • No more than 3 text characters per icon
  • PNG format
  • Transparent or on a non-white background
  • No alcohol, violence, or sexual content
  • Must match the favicon or artwork on the advertiser’s final URL

How brands configuration works via Travel Partner API

Google’s brand configuration allows you to set the icon and display name for groups of properties. The steps to manage this process are:

  • Add Brand IDs to listings in feed: The Property List Feed specifies each property’s Brand ID. Within the <listing> element of your hotel list file, use the <client_attr name="hotel_brand">brand_ID</client_attr> tags to indicate which brand ID each listing in your feed will be associated with.
  • Set up Brand Icons: Link your brand icons and display names to respective Brand IDs via Hotel Center or Travel Partner API. The Travel Partner API provides endpoints to set the brand’s icon and display name, or you can configure the brand using Hotel Center. You can set a display name for multiple languages.
  • Configure landing pages: Configure the landing page for each brand ID through uploading the Landing Page XML or changing each manually via the “Landing pages” section of Hotel Center. It's possible to specify Landing Page configuration at the brand level. This may be optional, depending upon how your booking URLs vary according to brands.

Partners will need to keep their icons and display names up-to-date with Google. This can be done by calling the Travel Partner API or using Hotel Center. Reach out to your technical account manager if you have any questions.

Default icons and display names

Google supports a default icon and default display names. Partners can specify the default brand configuration using Hotel Center or the Travel Partner API. When the partner has a default approved icon, Google will use that icon when either:

  • A property has no brand ID.
  • A property’s brand has no icon configured.
  • A property’s brand has no approved icon.

Google will use a similar default mechanism for display names.

Icon and display name reviews

Google reviews all icons and display names for appropriateness before showing them to users. When icons are in review or rejected, Google will select the icon from the following alternative sources:

  • The most recent icon that Google has already approved, if one exists.
  • The icon that is approved for the empty “default” brand ID, if it exists.
  • The icon that Google has previously configured for the corresponding landing page. Note: This may only exist for some partners and some brands.
  • The default Google lodging icon:This Hotel Center icon depicts a person laying in a bed..

When display names are in review or rejected, Google will select the display name from the following alternative sources:

  • The most recent display name that Google has already approved, if one exists.
  • The display name that is approved for the empty “default” brand ID, if it exists.
  • The approved display name for the corresponding landing page.
  • If the partner is the property owner, the property’s display name, provided in the vacation rental list feed.
  • Your default display name that Google has configured.
If any of these icon and display name fallbacks are unacceptable to you or your partners, you can turn off the brand’s properties by using the Live on Google setting until the correct icon and display name are approved.

How to configure your landing pages

Changes can be made to landing pages by either uploading a Landing Page XML or by changing each landing page manually via the “Landing pages” section of Hotel Center.

It is quite common that brands have differing booking engines. If this is the case, there are multiple valid ways of configuring your landing pages to work with your brands’ booking engines.

Option 1: Create multiple landing pages and assign them to specific brands in the landing page configuration.

Add multiple landing pages and map them to specific brands using the <Match> xml element. The brand ID’s used in the landing page configuration should match the brand ID’s associated with listings in the listing XML feed. The <Match> status determines the nature of the mapping:

  • Match status = "yes": This landing page can be used for listings associated with the brand.
  • Match status = "never": This landing page can never be used for listings associated with the brand.

Example of the landing page XML file that uses brand targeting

<PointOfSale id="pos-of-brand-id-1">

<DisplayNames display_text="My Brand Name" display_language="en"/><!-- visible to users -->

<Match status='yes' brand="my-brand-id-1"/>

<Match status='never' brand="my-brand-id-2"/>

...

</PointOfSale>

In the above example, listings associated with the brand “my-brand-id-1” will preferentially use the landing page with id “pos-of-brand-id-1”. Listings associated with the brand “my-brand-id-2” will never use the landing page with id “pos-of-brand-id-1”.

Alternatively, if using the Hotel Center UI, you can add brands to the “preferred” and “blocked” listing. If a brand is preferred, then listings associated with the brand will preferentially use the landing page. If a brand is blocked, then listings associated with the brand will never use the landing page.

Option 2: Create one or more landing pages and use variables to dynamically redirect users to brand-specific sites.

Configure one or more landing pages that have variables in the URL. Redirect users to brand-specific booking sites based on the values of the variables. Note, the redirection happens on your site (not done by Google). This option allows you to configure and maintain fewer landing pages than Option 1.

Dynamic values can be added to landing page URLs using URL variables, such as “PARTNER-HOTEL_ID”. When the landing page link is constructed for the search results page, Google replaces the variable names with the actual values. These values can then be leveraged to determine where a user should be redirected.

For example, let’s say the booking site for the brand “my-brand-id-1” has the domain “my-brand-id-1.com/booking”.

The landing page can be configured like so. Note the PARTNER-HOTEL-ID variable in the URL:

Example of the landing page XML file that uses variables for dynamic redirection

<PointOfSale id="pos-of-brand-id-1">

<DisplayNames display_text="My Name" display_language="en"/>

<URL>www.partnerdomain.google.com/hotel-id=(PARTNER-HOTEL-ID)&checkin-date=(CHECKINYEAR)-(CHECKINMONTH)-(CHECKINDAY)&checkout-date=(CHECKOUTYEAR)-(CHECKOUTMONTH)-(CHECKOUTDAY)&num-adults=(NUM-ADULTS)

...

</PointOfSale>

When a user clicks on a constructed URL, the partner site should check the value of the PARTNER-HOTEL-ID parameter. If the value of the parameter matches the ID of a listing associated with the brand "my-brand-id-1", the partner site (www.partnerdomain.google.com in this example) should redirect the user to the brand-specific site "my-brand-id-1.com/booking".

Option 3: Create one or more landing pages and use the ALTERNATE-HOTEL-ID to dynamically set the brand domain.

Configure one or more landing pages that use the ALTERNATE-HOTEL-ID parameter as the URL domain. The ALTERNATE-HOTEL-ID is an alternate identifier for your property that is specified in the Hotel List Feed. In your Hotel List Feed, you can set the ALTERNATE-HOTEL-ID to the brand domain for each listing.

For example, let’s say the booking site for the brand “my-brand-id-1” has the domain “my-brand-id-1.com/booking”. In the Hotel List Feed, all listings associated with “my-brand-id-1” should have the ALTERNATE-HOTEL-ID of “my-brand-id-1.com/booking”.

The landing page can be configured like so. Note that ALTERNATE-HOTEL-ID is being used for the domain:

Example of the landing page XML file that uses the ALTERNATE-HOTEL-ID as the domain name

<PointOfSale id="pos-of-brand-id-1">

DisplayNames display_text="My Name" display_language="en"/>

<URL>https://(ALTERNATE-HOTEL-ID)/checkin-date=(CHECKINYEAR)-(CHECKINMONTH)-(CHECKINDAY)&checkout-date=(CHECKOUTYEAR)-(CHECKOUTMONTH)-(CHECKOUTDAY)&num-adults=(NUM-ADULTS)

...

</PointOfSale>

For this example, the booking links generated for listings associated with the brand “my-brand-id-1” will have the format “https//:my-brand-id-1.com/booking/…”.

Option 4: Specify AllowablePointsOfSale in your pricing feed.

Create different landing pages for each of your brands’ unique booking engines. Specify which landing page(s) can be used for each listing in your pricing feed using the <AllowablePointsOfSale> element in Transaction.

Example price feed Transaction message.

<Transaction ... >

<Result>

<!-- Required -->

<Property>hotel_ID</Property>

<!-- Required -->

<Checkin>YYYY-MM-DD</Checkin>

<!-- Required -->

<Nights>number_of_nights</Nights>

...

<AllowablePointsOfSale>

<PointOfSale id="landing_page_identifier"/>

...

</AllowablePointsOfSale>

</Result>

...

</Transaction>

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