Set Up a Hotel List in XML

To set up your hotel list, you can use one of these methods:

  • Provide a CSV or XML file
  • Upload a file from Hotel Center
  • Host a file on a server

This guide describes how to set up a hotel list using XML files and host the XML feed on your server for Google to download your XML files at the requested schedule. For other methods of setting up a hotel list, see How to set up your hotel inventory.

About hotel lists in XML

A hotel list file contains descriptive data—such as property name, address, GeoCode location—organized by property, for all of the properties in a Hotel Center account.

A very basic example of a hotel list file in the XML file format is shown below. This example shows only one of the several <listing> elements that are specified in the file. Each <listing> element represents a property.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<listings xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://www.gstatic.com/localfeed/local_feed.xsd">
  <language>en</language>
  <listing>
    <!-- The value of <id> must be unique to your site for all time. Do NOT reuse IDs. -->
    <id>123abc</id>
    <name>Belgrave House</name>
    <address format="simple">
      <component name="addr1">6 Acacia Ave</component>
      <component name="addr2">Floor 5</component>
      <component name="city">London</component>
      <component name="province">Greater London</component>
      <component name="postal_code">SW1W 9TQ</component>
    </address>
    <country>GB</country>
    <latitude>35.070374</latitude>
    <longitude>-106.213648</longitude>
    <phone type="main">123-456-7890</phone>
    <category>hotel</category> <!-- You can use whatever property type categories you wish -->
  </listing>
  ...
</listings>

Create a hotel list in XML

To create a hotel list feed in XML, follow these steps:

  1. Review the file requirements.

  2. Code your files as described in the Hotel List XML Reference.

  3. Validate the files using the hotel list feed schema.

After validating your files, host the feed on your server. Alternatively, you can manually upload your list in Hotel Center.

Host XML feed on your server

With the Hotel List Pull delivery method, you can host a hotel list on your server, and Google will fetch the feed at your preferred frequency. After you've created your hotel list and validated its XML files, do the following:

  1. Prepare the files for Google as described in Hosting requirements.

  2. Contact your Technical Account Manager (TAM) to set up the following:

    • A download schedule for Google, typically once a week
    • The download URL and authentication requirements

If there are no errors, your hotel list is published and all the properties that are successfully matched in Google Maps are displayed on your Hotel Center account, under the Properties tab.

If there are errors, Google shares the errors with you so that you can fix them and prepare the files for download again.

Hosting requirements

Observe the following requirements when hosting your XML feed:

Server requirement

  • The server must be accessible through either HTTP or HTTPS.

Directory requirements

To ensure that Google retrieves a complete snapshot of your data and does not attempt to download incomplete files, follow these guidelines when posting files to your HTTP server:

  • Develop and validate your feed's XML files in a directory other than the one Google fetches from, that is: Don't use the download directory.

  • After you've successfully validated your feed's XML files, create a symbolic link from the download directory to the newly created feed.

  • If you're providing a .zip file, include the XML files at the root level and not within the download directory.

File requirements

  • Use plain text files and not a formatted file like a Microsoft Word file.

  • Make sure that the uncompressed XML file does not exceed 100 MB. Single or multiple XML files can be compressed into a single .zip file. There is no limit for zipped XML files or .zip files.

  • Name the files as follows:

    • For a single XML file, use PARTNER_NAME_local.xml.
    • For single or multiple XML files in a zip, use PARTNER_NAME_local.xml.zip

    The individual XML files in the zip can be named in any manner, however, we recommend appending a language code to each filename.

Authentication requirements

  • Optionally, you can secure your files with a username and password using either BASIC or DIGEST authentication.

  • NTLM is not supported.