Yesterday (6th August 2019) some hotel categories available in Google My Business were removed. They had been restricting newly verified listings the ability to add old categories for the past month, yesterday they removed them all for currently verified listings.
Google did say that removed categories would be replaced with new similar categories, however this has not materialised and it left hotels with a number of categories for hotels throwing up large errors.
Hotel Category Changes
Removed Categories:
- Airport Hotel
- Boutique Hotel
- Budget Hotel
- Business Hotel
- Castle Hotel
- Conference Hotel
- Family Hotel
- Luxury Hotel
- Beach Resort
- Golf Resort
- Spa Resort
Available Categories:
- Capsule Hotel
- Extended Stay Hotel
- Hot Spring Hotel
- Love Hotel
- Wellness Hotel
Google says they removed these due to lack of use.
I find this really hard to believe and what metrics were they basing this on ?
Before you go and start adding “Love Hotel” you should check out their definition, because I had no idea what a Love Hotel was:
“A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing guests privacy for sexual activities.”
I wonder why Family Hotel was removed and Love Hotel not?
Bug Issues
Some buggy issues arose from yesterdays category armageddon too. For a short period of time the actual category – Hotel – was not recognised as a valid category in Asia.
What to Do Now
Log into your Google My Business Dashboard and check your categories.
Remove any duplicates created by removal of categories and see if there are any more specific categories available. It may be worth while looking at more specific offerings, for example adding wedding venue.
If you are having any issues related to this, Online Ownership provides a local seo consulting service to help troubleshoot these annoying changes when they occur.