How do Google reviews work for hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses?

Short answer: verify your Business Profile first, because Google only lets verified owners reply. After that it comes down to three habits. Reply to reviews, ask every guest in the same way, and report only the reviews that break Google’s rules. Guests and Google decide the rest, including your star rating.

Where do guests see Google reviews for a hotel?

They see them in two places. The first is your Business Profile, the panel that appears when someone searches for your hotel, B&B or guesthouse by name or taps your pin in Google Maps.

The second is Google’s hotel search. When a traveller searches for somewhere to stay, Google’s Travel Help says each result shows the average user rating, key amenities and the lowest price from Google’s partners. Travellers can filter by price, user rating, hotel class and amenities. When they open a hotel they see photos, user reviews, amenity details and location info. Many hotels also show a review summary with the average rating out of 5. Google’s hotel FAQ says TrustYou, a third-party service, creates those summaries from reviews of your hotel across the web.

So a guest choosing between you and the place down the road may never reach your website. They see the stars, skim a few comments and decide. To see what they see, search for your property yourself on a phone and on a laptop.

How do you get your hotel on Google and claim the profile?

Google says a hotel needs a Business Profile to appear on Search and Maps, and that you must verify the profile to manage the hotel’s information. You also need to be verified before you can reply to a review. That catches people out: they find a review, want to answer it and then discover they can’t yet.

1. Search Google Maps for your property first. If it’s already there and someone else manages it, Google says to request ownership. Don’t create a second profile.
2. If it isn’t there, create the profile with your hotel’s name and address, a business category, and a phone number or website.
3. Choose a verification option and complete it.
4. Check your category. Google counts a property as a hotel or related category only if it accepts overnight guests, has a front desk or on-site management, and lists its property and business address publicly. Bed and breakfast (also called guest house) is one of those categories. If any of those three is untrue, for example a holiday let with nobody on site, Google says you are likely a vacation rental or outdoor lodging.

The full walk-through is in setting up Google reviews for your business.

What can you control, and what can’t you?

You control the profile: your details, photos and category. You also control your replies, how you ask guests for reviews and whether you report a review that breaks Google’s policy.

You don’t control the rating. Google’s hotel FAQ says the overall rating is based on user ratings and other signals, and that it is separate from the hotel class rating. You can’t choose which reviews appear, and you can’t delete a review. Only the guest can edit it, change the rating or delete it. When a guest edits a review, the date of the last edit replaces the original date. An old complaint that’s updated after you fixed the problem will therefore look recent.

Anyone signed in to a Google Account can leave a review. Reviews are public and can’t be posted anonymously. Google’s policy says contributions should reflect a genuine experience at a place or business, and it allows negative experiences described respectfully. Remember that at 11pm when a one-star lands. It may feel unfair, but if the guest stayed with you, it’s their experience to describe.

How do you ask hotel guests for a Google review within the rules?

Ask every guest, and ask them all the same way. Google’s FAQ for hotel owners suggests inviting guests to leave a review when they check out, using a short link or QR code. It also suggests a reminder in your post-stay messages.

1. Get your review link or QR code from your Business Profile.
2. Put it where guests will see it, such as a card at reception, on the breakfast tables or in the room. The free Google review QR code tool makes a printable card.
3. Use the same friendly line with every guest at checkout and in your follow-up email.

Google’s policy also sets firm limits. None of these is allowed:

• Rewards. You can’t offer payment, discounts, or free goods or services in exchange for a review, or for removing a negative one. So no money off the bill, no free breakfast, no free late checkout and no prize draw.
• Gating. Google bans discouraging negative reviews and selectively soliciting positive ones. Asking how the stay went and then sending only the happy guests to Google is gating. If you run a post-stay survey, every guest gets the Google link, whatever score they gave.
• Pressure on the premises. Google says businesses should not require or pressure guests to leave reviews while they are on the premises. A card on the desk is fine. Standing over a guest with a tablet while they pay is not.

UK law points the same way. The CMA says there is a banned practice covering fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews, and it updated its guidance after the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. There’s more in the rules for asking for Google reviews.

How should you reply to hotel reviews?

Google’s steps are short:

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select Read reviews.
3. Next to the review, select Reply, then type and submit your reply.

Google checks each reply against its content policies. That usually takes up to 10 minutes, though Google says it can sometimes take up to 30 days. The reply appears as coming from your business (your personal name isn’t shown), and the guest is notified.

Reply to the glowing reviews and the grumpy ones. For a positive review, thank the guest and mention something specific, such as the garden, the breakfast or the dog who met them at the door. For a negative one, stay calm, stick to the facts and don’t argue in public. You’re writing as much for the next guest who reads it as for the annoyed one. Never share a guest’s private details, so no room numbers, no dates of stay and no mention of who they were with. And don’t paste the same line into every reply, because readers notice.

The guide to replying to Google reviews covers tone and tricky cases. If you freeze at the empty reply box, the free review reply generator gives you a draft to edit.

What can you do about unfair or fake hotel reviews?

First, ask yourself honestly whether this person stayed. If it’s a real complaint, even a badly worded one, a good reply will do more for you than a report. Google says not to report a review just because you disagree with it, and that it doesn’t get involved in conflict between businesses and customers.

If the review breaks Google’s policy, report it. The policy removes fake engagement, such as a review that doesn’t reflect a genuine stay, and content based on a conflict of interest.

1. Go to your Business Profile and select Read reviews.
2. Next to the review, select Report.
3. Choose the reason and send the report.

Google says evaluation typically takes several days. You can track the status in its Reviews Management Tool, and if the review isn’t removed you can submit a one-time appeal there.

Some reviews on hotel listings come from Google’s third-party partners. For those, Google’s hotel FAQ says to contact the partner and get the review corrected on the original site. Once the partner publishes the correction, it’s reflected on Google. The same FAQ says that in most cases old reviews can’t be removed. It mentions exceptions where your hotel’s changes meet specific criteria, such as a change in ownership or physical location.

Your best defence against one bad review is a steady flow of honest ones, so keep asking every guest.

Google or Tripadvisor: where should a small hotel put its effort?

Each site runs its own reviews under its own rules, although Google does show some reviews it receives from third-party partners. You don’t have to choose one site and ignore the rest.

My rough rule is to sort Google out first. That’s where guests meet you in Search and Maps, often before they’ve picked a booking site. After that, look at where your recent reviews are actually arriving. If most come in on Tripadvisor or Booking.com, that’s where your readers are, so keep up with replies there too. Our guide to replying to Tripadvisor reviews covers that platform.

Don’t spread yourself thin trying to win everywhere. You’ll end up rushing half your replies, and rushed replies show.

Is 4.5 a good Google rating for a hotel?

There’s no magic number. Guests rarely judge you in isolation. They compare you with the other places on the screen. So look at the ratings of nearby hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses, then read what their reviews mention. A 4.5 beside a row of 4.8s reads differently from a 4.5 beside a row of 4.1s.

The comments matter more than the decimal. If guests keep praising the welcome and keep mentioning a noisy room, you have something to act on, and fixing it will show up in future reviews.

Questions people ask

How do I list my hotel on Google?

Create or claim a Google Business Profile for the hotel and verify it. If your property is already on Google Maps, Google says to request ownership instead of creating a second profile. You need a verified profile before you can manage your details or reply to reviews.

Can a hotel remove a Google review?

No. Only the guest can edit or delete their review. You can report a review that breaks Google's content policy, and Google decides whether it comes down. Google's hotel FAQ says that in most cases old reviews can't be removed. It mentions narrow exceptions, such as a change in ownership or physical location.

Is 4.5 a good Google rating for a hotel?

There is no fixed benchmark. It depends on the places a guest compares you with. Look at the ratings of nearby hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses, then read what their reviews and yours actually mention.

Which hotel review site is best?

No single site wins for every property. For most small UK properties Google is a sensible first priority, because guests meet you in Search and Maps. After that, keep up with the sites where your own guests book and leave reviews, and reply when reviews come in.

Can I reply to a Google review of my hotel?

Yes, once your Business Profile is verified. Go to your Business Profile, select Read reviews, then select Reply next to the review. Google checks the reply against its policies before publishing it, and the guest is notified.