Google has dropped the "website" button in the Google hotel search listings. Previously, if you clicked on a hotel listing, the listing detail page would show a "website" button. That button would take you to the hotel's website landing page, to potentially book there.
But as of yesterday, the button seems to have gone missing. Maybe it is a bug, maybe by the time this story was published, the button returned? I hope so...
Update: This was a bug, more details below.
Here is what it looks like now:
Lluc B. Penycate posted before and after screenshots of this on Twitter:
Hi @GuideTwit, did Google just remove the website button from the Google Hotels listings????!!!!@contenidoseocom pic.twitter.com/Isqd93yzv3
— Lluc B. Penycate Ⓐ (@Lluc_SEO) September 15, 2021
I do hope this is a bug, this is not a good thing for hotels.
I guess we should count the "Free" Booking link on the prices tab... 😔, but yes, WTF! pic.twitter.com/VuiDIB44os
— Lluc B. Penycate Ⓐ (@Lluc_SEO) September 15, 2021
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Yom Kippur.
Update: This was a bug, Danny Sullivan of Google said so:
Thanks. I'm seeing buttons now. I can confirm there was no test, and the buttons not rendering is apparently a bug. They're exploring more about why that happened. If you see it happen again, please do ping me.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) September 16, 2021