Top 3 Ways Inaccurate Business Listings Hurt Hotels

Today’s digital marketing activities are a necessity when it comes to making a difference in the competitive hotel industry. The accuracy of business listings, information, and directories are sometimes forgotten in the clutter of other problems to solve when it comes to hotels. You could be missing out on potential clients because somewhere online, your address and phone number are entirely inaccurate.

Here are the top 3 ways having wrong business information will hurt your hotel:

Potential Clients Lose Trust

Imagine planning a getaway. You decide to drive down to Florida for some solitude. It’s time to search for a hotel. You search through Google, find the hotel you are particularly interested in, and decide to book it. Before you call, you want to visit the website and see where it’s located. Google shows you one address, but the website states a different address. You try to call the hotel to speak with an employee but, “The number you have dialed is unavailable….”  Do you continue your search for this hotel or abandon it to check out other locations? BrightLocal states, “80% of consumers lose trust in local businesses if they see incorrect or inconsistent contact details or business names online.” Now imagine how many times this might happen a day, a week, or even in one year. Not only was a potential client lost, but they also won’t consider you for their next getaway because they have lost trust in your business.

Low Ranking in Google Listings

If you ever need to search for anything whether it is recipes, new cars, best pasta in town, Friday night activities, etc. Google is one of the significant search engines out there. But, do you ever wonder how it ranks individual listings over others. One of the critical factors is NAP: Name, Address, Phone Number. Google feeds and receives this information from the top data aggregators Localeze, Neustar, Infogroup, and Factual. These data aggregators are the gatekeepers. Think of them as your online search engine bureau. They make sure that the information that is received and sent out is accurate. Now if your listing is wrong, it could potentially overwrite CORRECT details about your business listing. Such as the name of a company that used to be at your location. It’s still listed as “Grey’s Papaya” instead of the hotel’s correct business name. If Google detects any inaccuracies, your listing will get demoted. If no changes are made to correct the information, it continues to demote the hotel’s business listing. This happens until it reaches a particular page or level that your listing is worthy of. Don’t let your hotel sink in rankings because of inaccurate information. Address the situation before you get buried on the second page.

The Competitor Wins

A potential client has one foot in the door. They see how amazing your reviews are. They love the location since it is a short distance from home. They love the look of the hotel, but there’s no information about the surrounding area, such as restaurants and activities. They go to visit your hotel to see how the surrounding neighborhood looks like, and your hotel is nowhere to be found. The address that was provided to them by the search engine is inaccurate. Completely upset with the time they spent searching they decide to book somewhere else, and it’s your direct competitor. The Local Citations Trust Report from BrightLocal states, “30% of consumers would go to a competitor if they couldn’t locate a business because of incorrect information found online.” Another potential client is lost because your address was incorrect when displaying in the search engine.

There are plenty of resources and tools to help you manage your business listings. It’s up to you to be on top of it, or we can help you. Check out how we can help you increase your leads and correct your business listings throughout the internet in places you would have never thought of searching. Put yourself in your client’s shoes. Would you stay at a hotel that had inaccurate information online?