Our team recently spotted a new element on Google Hotel Ad displays. This new feature is a blue booking button for the top-ranked property on Google’s hotel search.

One of our analysts first spotted this new feature while searching Google on a desktop in the US. Although it initially seemed to be a trial aimed at certain subsets of consumers, our recent attempts to find this button suggest that it is now available for the majority of traffic. The previous interface (shown below) did not have a booking button on the first listing. Only the price or a green “Get Price” text was displayed instead.

We’re also seeing that Google is making changes to the green “Get Price” feature as well. This text is being replaced by a blue button of the same style that says “Get Price”. This feature was also discovered by searching Google on a desktop in the US.

How This Could Impact Hotel Campaigns

While these new inclusions may seem minor, they will likely impact click distribution as these buttons further differentiate the top-ranked ad from its neighbors. This is a clearer call to action than the former “Get Price” text. The button is larger, which may draw in consumers and encourage them to click. Following the same reasoning, the click-through rate could be affected. It could also potentially affect the cost-per-click for these ad spots down the line, if the top position does indeed gain a larger share of the click distribution. This could lead to a race for the top spot, if the distribution becomes more top-heavy.

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