Reserve with Google: How to Sell Tours and Activities Directly on Search Results

Where do you go when you want to find a tour or activity in a city you’ve never toured in before? Where do your customers find your tour and activity operator business? We’re betting Google.

From planning trips to finding great weekend activities near you, Google is often the go-to place to discover things you can do and places to visit. All you need to do is search, “city tours around me” or “boat cruise in [destination]” and Google will provide a list of relevant and nearby businesses.

Well, Google has made it that much easier to search and directly book tours and activities across their platforms. Reserve with Google officially launched in 2017 and it essentially enables customers to book tours and activities with local businesses directly, via Google Search, Maps, and the Reserve with Google website.

Yes! That means that it just got much easier for your customers to find you, a tour and activity provider, and book your services.

And it gets even better!

Regiondo users can get their businesses listed on Reserve with Google! That means potentially more exposure and bookings for you —that’s why we’re so excited!

Let’s go over what Reserve with Google does, how it could help your business, and what to expect from the Reserve with Google and Regiondo integration.

Reserve with Google: The Basics

The main objective of Reserve with Google is to help tour and activity providers and tour and activity seekers to find one another, much more easily. It specifically enables users to book tours, activities and attractions from Google Search, Maps and Reserve with Google.

In the past, tour and activity seekers — your customers — had to actively search for you, look through your site and that of your competitors, compare your rates and services, and then make a payment. Google has now shortened and streamlined that process by putting everything under one roof: Reserve with Google.

When your business is listed in Reserve with Google, it appears when a tour and activity seeker searches for tours and activities in your area. They will be able to see your rates, availability, location, reviews and hours of operation. If they choose one of your tours or activities, they can book and pay for it instantly. Without visiting your site.

So think of Reserve with Google as a way to increase your reach by showing up in their search results for activity and tour providers in your area.

Note: If you want to list your business on Reserve with Google, you have to work with a supported partner, which is why we at Regiondo have partnered with them to bring the capability to you.

Now, let’s take a look at the customer side of things.

How to create a Google My Business Profile?

How Do Your Customers Use Reserve with Google?

Reserve with Google makes it possible for customers to find your business by looking up specific tours and activities. They search by location and the date they are looking to book the tour on.

If you’re located within their search location and offer the tours and activities they are looking for, your business will be listed in the results.

Your pricing and packages will be listed as well. Once the customer decides on a particular tour or activity, they will pay for it using a credit/debit card. They can save their credit card details for future bookings with Reserve with Google.

Google will also provide future recommendations about possible tours or activities they might be interested in. This could lead to additional exposure for any tour activity provider that is listed as a business in Reserve with Google.

Here’s a quick video of the purchasing experience when using Regiondo and Reserve with Google.

What’s All The Hype About?

Well…You now know that if you want to increase your bookings, it’s absolutely necessary to have an online presence. Online travel is on the rise and more and more tour and activity seekers are booking their experiences online.

Research shows that European travelers look for tours and activities in a destination via Google and TripAdvisor. A study by Arival reports that 56 percent of travelers used Google while 38 percent used TripAdvisor to help them plan their tours and activities. Fewer used other sources of travel research like other sites and apps, the site of the tour or activity operator and YouTube.

You also understand the importance of making the booking process easy and straightforward (which is why you signed up for Regiondo), right? Almost 50 percent of all bookings are made on mobile which means that it is really really important to have a seamless mobile booking experience. Mobile users don’t want to go through multiple pages and hoops just to book a seat on a tour bus.

So we have established that your business should be easy to find online and it should be mobile-friendly. Those are two birds that Reserve with Google is trying to kill with one stone.

Let’s go back to the study.

The research does show strong demand for tours and activities (yay!) as more than 70 percent of study participants included an outdoor adventure or activity on their trip. Although the demand is strong, it is quite a challenge for travelers to find and book the experiences they want online.

The study provided a few other telling insights: many travelers plan their trip in advance, with 44 percent planning seven days ahead of a trip. That means that activity and tour providers have enough of a window to reach those potential customers. Additionally, almost 33 percent of travelers book an activity on the same day.

Let’s look at how people are booking. Currently, about a third of people reserve tours and activities via a desktop while 14 percent research on mobile and 12 percent look to friends and family for recommendations. However, booking in person was the most common method cited.

However, local search is becoming more and more transactional. This means that more and more tourists will be searching and booking tours and activities online. Reserve with Google is simply a way for local businesses like yours to tap into that trend; increase your exposure and sales through their “search and book” functionality.

Speaking of local search…

Reserve with Google Highlights the Importance of Local SEO

To be frank, local SEO has been under-appreciated in digital marketing. This does not correlate with the fact that optimization of local business content and reviews both directly and indirectly account for increases in annual consumer spending, even for businesses with multiple locations.

We’ve already seen that search, reviews, and social media recommendations influence purchase decision-making. Mobile has now surpassed desktop in local search, making the capability to book directly from local business listings even more important. That means that it’s not only easier for people to find you on Google, but they can also book your tours and activities much more easily via one of the world’s most popular search engines.

We want to get in on that. That is why we are pleased to announce that Reserve with Google is now available for Regiondo users! Yes, you can add a booking button to your Google My Business Listing so customers can easily find you and instantly book your tours and activities in search results, Google Maps, and the Reserve with Google website.

Reserve with Google & Regiondo Integration

Your tours and activities can be booked directly on Google Search, Maps, and on the Reserve with Google website via the Regiondo integration.

The partnership between Regiondo and Reserve with Google makes it much easier for your customers to search and book your activities. You can gain exposure to new customers as they look through Google Search, Maps, and Reserve with Google. Plus, Reserve with Google is commission-free.

The API integration between Regiondo and Reserve with Google lets you sell your tours and activities in real-time. All bookings from the integration will reflect in your Regiondo dashboard, meaning that you don’t need to do anything else!

Indeed, Reserve with Google is an exciting opportunity for tour and activity providers so we are very happy to provide it as an option for all Regiondo users.

How to Get Your Business listed on Reserve with Google

If you’re already a Regiondo customer, please head over to our support article on how to connect to Reserve with Google. If, for any reason, you don’t want to sell your offers via Reserve with Google, you can opt out by contacting our customer support team using the chat button in the bottom right.

Conclusion

The reason we are so excited about the Reserve with Google and Regiondo integration is that it will provide you, as a Regiondo user, with a more seamless way to attract, acquire and retain customers that are using Google to search for your products and services.

Your customers can book your tours and activities, directly from the Google search engine, quite easily. In that way, you remove unnecessary booking hurdles and optimize your customer experience. That, in turn, means that you will be able to acquire more customers, build brand loyalty, and increase sales.

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