Search Engine Ad saying No Availability - when they know nothing

[verandasburnet]

https://youtu.be/X4Jsm5Oyr14
this is happening to us also. When you search in the big G search engine you get a calendar and a notice that there is "No Known Availability" in the results. Anyone else have this? I have figured out that places that are listed with one of the major booking sites have their prices and availability shown. Have also discovered that only certain reservation systems will let big G crawl for their availability.
We know of one person who told us that we were shown to "be full" online but thought to call anyway. I imagine they were referring to this ad. So now we are thinking we are going to have to find somewhere in our budget to join one of the booking sites and also change our reservation service, because ours is not one that allows big G to pull availability info
Thoughts? advice?

 

[Arks]

Yes, if they don't know your availability calendar, they post that misleading phrase, no known availability, which people take as no availability. It's disgraceful and might not stand up in court. They know Booking wouldn't stand for it, but they know smaller places can't afford to fight it.

 

[souslechene]

Thoughts? advice?

Return to the seventies...

 

[Morticia]

Part of the reason I don't spend any time on G+. They lead guests away from our website.

 

[GoodScout]

Apparently if you're on an OTA it directs people to those. If you're not on an OTA, Google's screwing you.

 

[verandasburnet]

Apparently if you're on an OTA it directs people to those. If you're not on an OTA, Google's screwing you..

The OTa thing is what we have figured out. Just trying to decide when we bite the bullet which one. We will have to change our reservation system also. It is going to be a huge pain all around to get everything to work together with our website.

 

[An Old Tavernkeeper]

Trip ad vi sore has been doing this for years and said at our bnb conference they have the legal right to because they don't 'know'.

 

[Arks]

Trip ad vi sore has been doing this for years and said at our bnb conference they have the legal right to because they don't 'know'..

Trip ad vi sore has been doing this for years and said at our bnb conference they have the legal right to because they don't 'know'.

Right. And they'll never use the words "Don't Know" or "Unknown Availability". They use "No Known Availability" because they know a lot of people will see that as "No Availability" and move on to pick one that will pay TA or Google some money.
Evil, they are.

 

[gillumhouse]

Quite honestly, I do not Goo us very often and not paid attention to this until now so have no clue how long they have been doing this. I have, in an attempt to be proactive as I am being REactive - posted this on my home page in large letters (spacing added to discourage searches):
It has come to our attention that when one Go ogle's Gill um House Bed & Breakfast a message regarding availability is displayed stating "No Known Availability for these dates". Please know this is being done to small Bed & Breakfasts in many places. We do not pay Google a commission nor for ads. Our availability calendar is shown on this, our own web site. Thank you for reading this. Please contact the B & B or inn directly if you see this message on a Google search.

 

[swirt]

Quite honestly, I do not Goo us very often and not paid attention to this until now so have no clue how long they have been doing this. I have, in an attempt to be proactive as I am being REactive - posted this on my home page in large letters (spacing added to discourage searches):
It has come to our attention that when one Go ogle's Gill um House Bed & Breakfast a message regarding availability is displayed stating "No Known Availability for these dates". Please know this is being done to small Bed & Breakfasts in many places. We do not pay Google a commission nor for ads. Our availability calendar is shown on this, our own web site. Thank you for reading this. Please contact the B & B or inn directly if you see this message on a Google search..

Clever. But I suggest removing it. It is not going to have the effect you desire.

 

[swirt]

I'm putting up a very blunt post calling this out. You'll know it when you see it. When it appears, tweet, and share the crap out of it. The way to beat this is not to say how bad it is for the little guy... the way to beat this is to ridicule it for what an awful user experience it is.
https://www.innspiring.com/google-fail-infobox

 

[gillumhouse]

Quite honestly, I do not Goo us very often and not paid attention to this until now so have no clue how long they have been doing this. I have, in an attempt to be proactive as I am being REactive - posted this on my home page in large letters (spacing added to discourage searches):
It has come to our attention that when one Go ogle's Gill um House Bed & Breakfast a message regarding availability is displayed stating "No Known Availability for these dates". Please know this is being done to small Bed & Breakfasts in many places. We do not pay Google a commission nor for ads. Our availability calendar is shown on this, our own web site. Thank you for reading this. Please contact the B & B or inn directly if you see this message on a Google search..

Clever. But I suggest removing it. It is not going to have the effect you desire.
.

Aye, Aye, sir

 

[Morticia]

This just in:
Google "No Known Availability" Issue Addressed by Senator King's Office
Many of you are aware that there has been an issue with Google when searching the name of a particular property. A box is presented with the search return on the upper right hand corner of the search return page with info on the property and if the property does not participate with 3rd party bookings sites, these words appear "No known availability for these dates." It is best described by our member, Ben Walters, our member and owner of the Acadia's Oceanside Meadows Inn...
Many people have been involved in the effort to rectify this situation, but most notably Chris Rector of Senator King's office, who is now reporting to me the following.
Statement from Senator King's office- "We appreciate Ms. Burnham and Mr. Rich (of the Atlantean Inn in Bar Harbor) bringing this issue to our attention. Our staff has been in touch with officials at Google who have informed us that the problem should be resolved in the coming days. The tourism industry is a pillar of our state's economy, and Maine's innkeepers deserve to know that information about their businesses is being properly represented."
Google informed us today that they are aware of the issue and have been working on it. They recognize that the language is confusing and, as a result, are in the process of changing the language to "Check website for rates and availability." They expect this change to occur in the next few days.
It will be essential that we all monitor this issue and make sure it happens in the next week or more pressure may need to be applied by Senator King and others who have attempted to right this wrong.
Maine Innkeepers Association

 

[EmptyNest]

This just in:
Google "No Known Availability" Issue Addressed by Senator King's Office
Many of you are aware that there has been an issue with Google when searching the name of a particular property. A box is presented with the search return on the upper right hand corner of the search return page with info on the property and if the property does not participate with 3rd party bookings sites, these words appear "No known availability for these dates." It is best described by our member, Ben Walters, our member and owner of the Acadia's Oceanside Meadows Inn...
Many people have been involved in the effort to rectify this situation, but most notably Chris Rector of Senator King's office, who is now reporting to me the following.
Statement from Senator King's office- "We appreciate Ms. Burnham and Mr. Rich (of the Atlantean Inn in Bar Harbor) bringing this issue to our attention. Our staff has been in touch with officials at Google who have informed us that the problem should be resolved in the coming days. The tourism industry is a pillar of our state's economy, and Maine's innkeepers deserve to know that information about their businesses is being properly represented."
Google informed us today that they are aware of the issue and have been working on it. They recognize that the language is confusing and, as a result, are in the process of changing the language to "Check website for rates and availability." They expect this change to occur in the next few days.
It will be essential that we all monitor this issue and make sure it happens in the next week or more pressure may need to be applied by Senator King and others who have attempted to right this wrong.
Maine Innkeepers Association.

great hope they do it for everyone and not just Maine inns

 

[Copperhead]

This just in:
Google "No Known Availability" Issue Addressed by Senator King's Office
Many of you are aware that there has been an issue with Google when searching the name of a particular property. A box is presented with the search return on the upper right hand corner of the search return page with info on the property and if the property does not participate with 3rd party bookings sites, these words appear "No known availability for these dates." It is best described by our member, Ben Walters, our member and owner of the Acadia's Oceanside Meadows Inn...
Many people have been involved in the effort to rectify this situation, but most notably Chris Rector of Senator King's office, who is now reporting to me the following.
Statement from Senator King's office- "We appreciate Ms. Burnham and Mr. Rich (of the Atlantean Inn in Bar Harbor) bringing this issue to our attention. Our staff has been in touch with officials at Google who have informed us that the problem should be resolved in the coming days. The tourism industry is a pillar of our state's economy, and Maine's innkeepers deserve to know that information about their businesses is being properly represented."
Google informed us today that they are aware of the issue and have been working on it. They recognize that the language is confusing and, as a result, are in the process of changing the language to "Check website for rates and availability." They expect this change to occur in the next few days.
It will be essential that we all monitor this issue and make sure it happens in the next week or more pressure may need to be applied by Senator King and others who have attempted to right this wrong.
Maine Innkeepers Association.

great hope they do it for everyone and not just Maine inns
.

great hope they do it for everyone and not just Maine inns

Ditto!

 

[GoodScout]

As I said earlier in the thread: Get the politicians who can cause Google the most pain, and you're more likely to get a Google response.

 

[verandasburnet]

This just in:
Google "No Known Availability" Issue Addressed by Senator King's Office
Many of you are aware that there has been an issue with Google when searching the name of a particular property. A box is presented with the search return on the upper right hand corner of the search return page with info on the property and if the property does not participate with 3rd party bookings sites, these words appear "No known availability for these dates." It is best described by our member, Ben Walters, our member and owner of the Acadia's Oceanside Meadows Inn...
Many people have been involved in the effort to rectify this situation, but most notably Chris Rector of Senator King's office, who is now reporting to me the following.
Statement from Senator King's office- "We appreciate Ms. Burnham and Mr. Rich (of the Atlantean Inn in Bar Harbor) bringing this issue to our attention. Our staff has been in touch with officials at Google who have informed us that the problem should be resolved in the coming days. The tourism industry is a pillar of our state's economy, and Maine's innkeepers deserve to know that information about their businesses is being properly represented."
Google informed us today that they are aware of the issue and have been working on it. They recognize that the language is confusing and, as a result, are in the process of changing the language to "Check website for rates and availability." They expect this change to occur in the next few days.
It will be essential that we all monitor this issue and make sure it happens in the next week or more pressure may need to be applied by Senator King and others who have attempted to right this wrong.
Maine Innkeepers Association.

Just checked ours. It says "Check website..." YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are not in Maine, so it looks like G did it for everyone.

 

[user 26]

Amazing!!! I just checked four inns in different areas and it now says Check Website for Rates and Availability. You have to be ever vigilant. So proud of all of you for pushing back!

 

[user 26]

Arks, I am waiting for the booking services to start screaming at google 'Where's our advantage?'
Of course they knew what they were doing.

Where is my wine?

 

[Arks]

Google informed us today that they are aware of the issue...
Duh! You think? They knew exactly what they were doing. Or at least somebody at Google knew. It may be that the "somebody" has now been called on the carpet over this, as I'm sure Google doesn't enjoy attracting attention from a senator, just as I try to make sure the Internal Revenue Service doesn't notice that I exist.
Just wish they'd put a link to the website right after where they say "check website for availability"!