The launch of the Google Travel Insights platform is intended to help those in the travel industry by providing a single location to access important market data, industry insights and relevant tools. In this article, you can find out more about the service itself and the numerous ways it can help travel companies to improve business performance.

What is Google Travel Insights?

Google Travel Insights is a section of the wider Google platform and is geared towards those operating within the travel and tourism industry. It offers up a variety of online tools, along with useful data and other information, allowing businesses, marketing professionals and others to gain real insight into the state of play at any given time.

According to Google, the platform is intended to help businesses develop a deeper understanding of current levels of demand for travel, see how this demand is evolving over time, pinpoint exactly where demand for travel is coming from, and view key performance data and analytics from a single access point.

The Google Travel Insights platform launched in 2020 and its creation was partially motivated by a desire to help the industry recover from the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic and the resulting restrictions on travel.

Why is Google Travel Insights Useful for Travel Companies?

The launch of the Google Travel Insights platform was welcomed throughout the travel and hospitality industry; mainly because it provides businesses with access to important information and useful data.

By making use of the market insights provided through the service, companies are able to identify patterns in demand, see precisely where demand is growing and shrinking, and then adjust their business strategies accordingly. For example, the insights can be invaluable in helping businesses to plan marketing strategies and annual budgets.

The Three Components of Google Travel Insights

Google Travel Insights provides a number of different tools, data sets and insights for those in the travel and tourism industry. These services are currently divided into three main components, which are as follows:

1. Destination Insights by Google Travel

As the name indicates, the Destination Insights by Google Travel component is focused on global destinations. On a basic level, this means different countries around the world. Yet, within each country, the service also offers a breakdown of the specific towns, cities and locations that travelers are showing the most interest in visiting.

This component primarily offers useful data about current and historic levels of demand for travelling to particular destinations around the world, as well as information about where that demand is actually coming from. To provide this, Google looks at domestic and international travel, along with information on flights, hotel bookings and searches.

As such, this component is useful for any travel company with connections to a particular destination. It also allows individuals and businesses to understand how demand for their local destinations compares to years gone by.

2. Hotel Insights by Google Travel

The Hotel Insights by Google Travel component focuses squarely on accommodation. It utilizes data gathered from hotel searches carried out by Google’s users, in order to provide hotels with important information.

In particular, hotel owners and marketing experts are able to learn more about the travelers who make searches indicating they are interested in a particular travel market. This then allows hotels to optimize their marketing strategy and target spending and efforts at the travelers who are most likely to stay with them.

Hotel insights of this kind are predominantly going to appeal to hotel owners. With that being said, the information and tools provided may also be useful for those in other parts of the travel or hospitality industry too.

3. Google Travel Analytics Center

Finally, unlike the previous two components, the Google Travel Analytics Center is only available to those who are registered as a Google commercial travel partner. This includes Enterprise partners and similar groups.

The main benefit that the Analytics Center offers is the potential to import your own data and then combine your company information with Google’s own unique insights. The service also provides a convenient means of exploring your own performance across the various different Google travel platforms that exist.

As a result, it is a useful service for monitoring your own marketing performance, understanding how that performance relates to wider industry trends, and then using this to make more strategic business decisions.

Google Hotels: Gain Visibility and Attract More Bookings

The Google Travel Insights offering is not the only Google service that can be of benefit to those in the travel industry. Another good example comes in the form of Google Hotels; a service that is fully integrated with Google’s core search engine, along with Google Maps, Google Assistant and more.

Travel Marketing Tips to Improve Your Results

Businesses in the travel industry can live and die on the basis of their marketing and while Google Travel Insights is a valuable tool, there are a number of additional travel marketing tips and practices you should be aware of too. These can include everything from focusing on personalization, to using the very latest technology.

The Key Travel Trends You Need to Be Aware Of

The Google Travel Insights platform is ideal for keeping up with the latest data trends, but there are also some more general travel trends you need to be aware of. Examples of this include the rise of ‘bleisure‘ (business and leisure) travel, the growth of eco-friendly travel and the growing use of virtual reality (VR) technology.

List of Distribution Channels to Sell Your Travel Inventory

Being aware of trends and demand through Google Travel Insights can be hugely beneficial for businesses in the travel industry, but it is equally important to know how to sell your inventory. In particular, online travel agencies (OTAs) and hotel metasearch engines can play a vital role, and most companies should aim to maximize direct bookings too.

A Complete Overview of the Travel Industry

The travel industry is one of the largest and most diverse service industries in the world, catering for billions of customers each year. Included within the industry are businesses and other organizations linked to areas like accommodation, transportation, food and beverages, entertainment, tourist information and more.

Google Travel Insights forms part of the wider Google offering, and is intended to be used by those involved in areas like travel, tourism and hospitality. It provides businesses, marketers and Google partners with valuable insights into the current demand for travel, allowing trends to be identified and more strategic decisions to be made.

 

Ramy Ayoub