Google reviews for your holiday let: who can get them, and how to ask

A holiday let on its own isn't eligible for a Google Business Profile. A business that meets its customers in person can be. That one distinction shapes everything else: whether you can have a Google profile at all, which review link to give your guests, and what Google and Airbnb won't let you do to get reviews. The rules below come from Google's and Airbnb's own help pages, read on 28 October 2026. They can change, so the original pages always win.

Why get Google reviews as well as Airbnb or Booking.com reviews?

Because a review left on a booking platform stays on that platform, while a Google review shows next to your Business Profile in Google Maps and Search. Google also says reviews can help a business stand out and give potential customers useful information (“Tips to get more reviews”, read on 28 October 2026), and that more reviews and positive ratings can help its local ranking (“Tips to improve your local ranking on Google”, read on 28 October 2026).

That only applies to a business that has a profile. So for a holiday let, the first question is: can you have one at all?

Can an Airbnb or holiday let have a Google Business Profile?

Not the property itself; a business that welcomes customers in person can apply. To have a profile, a business must make in-person contact with its customers during its stated hours. Google rules out “Rental or for-sale properties such as vacation homes” by name, and says that sales or leasing offices can be verified (“Business eligibility and ownership guidelines”, read on 28 October 2026).

Who can apply?

Google doesn't name bed and breakfasts, guest houses or letting agents: its rule is about meeting customers in person during stated hours. In our reading of that rule, that contact can take several forms:

• welcoming guests on site, as at a B&B or guest house;
• handing over the keys in person at each arrival;
• a reception service where clients come to see you, such as the office of a letting or management company.

In each case, it's the business that can have a profile, not the property. Those are our examples, not Google's words. If in doubt, Google's verification decides.

Who can't?

The cottage, flat or villa you let out: what Google excludes is the rented property itself. Even if you hand over the keys in person, its page doesn't say that the property itself becomes eligible, so don't count on it.

What that changes: the profile you can create is your business's (a letting company, a guest house), not a property's. And don't create one in the name of a holiday park or a block of flats: Google asks for a name that reflects the business's real-world name, and says it can suspend profiles that don't follow its guidelines (“Guidelines for representing your business on Google”, read on 28 October 2026).

What if you run several lets from one office?

If you really meet clients in that office, the profile is that business's, not one per property. If you don't have an office, don't invent one: Google reserves the right to suspend profiles that don't follow its guidelines. And if you travel to your clients rather than receive them, Google covers service-area businesses and asks them to hide their address: read its guidelines for representing your business before you start.

What if you can't have a profile?

Your reviews stay on your booking platforms, and you don't create a fake profile. In Concierge Digital, the guest guide works without the review button: it stays hidden until you add a link.

Which review link or QR code should you give guests, and where?

Once your profile exists, Google advises asking customers to open a Google link or scan a QR code, and reminding them. They must be signed in to a Google account to post (“Tips to get more reviews”, read on 28 October 2026). Google also explains how to create that link or QR code from your profile.

Our advice: put that link where guests already look, in your check-out message, in your guest guide and on the printed sign in the property. The other questions of a stay have their place in the guest guide too: see the questions guests ask, stage by stage.

In Concierge Digital, you paste the link to your review page into your host area, one property at a time. It feeds two places: the “Leave a review” button in the guest guide, which opens in a new tab and stays hidden while the link is empty; and the review QR code on the A4 sign, which can carry up to 4 QR codes (Wi-Fi, guide, Google review, direct booking), each shown once the matching information is filled in. Concierge Digital doesn't create your Google profile and doesn't collect reviews: you supply the link, and your guests post on Google. See it in the demo of the guest guide and the A4 sign, and read what else goes in a guest guide in our guide to the Airbnb house manual.

When and how should you ask a guest for a review without being pushy?

One clear request, at the end of the stay, to every guest, with nothing offered in return. The timing is common sense, not a Google rule; Google's rules are that your request doesn't pick and choose among customers, doesn't pressure them and doesn't buy anything (next section).

• Every guest: don't ask only the guests who seem happy. Google doesn't allow selectively soliciting positive reviews.
• Without pushing: one clear message with the link is enough, rather than a string of reminders. Google says businesses shouldn't require or pressure customers to leave a review while on the premises, or tell them what to write (Google's Maps content policy, read on 28 October 2026).
• Nothing in return: no discount, no gift, no free service.
• With the direct link: give the link itself rather than the profile's name, so the guest has nothing to search for.

The lesson of the note further down: a request displayed on a sign with a QR code is, by construction, the same for every guest. It's a simple way to avoid the selective solicitation Google prohibits.

What don't Google and Airbnb allow when you ask for reviews?

Four things: offering something in exchange for a review, asking only satisfied customers or discouraging negative reviews, publishing or buying fake reviews, and having people close to the business write reviews. Google bans these practices in its content policy for Google Maps and says it removes incentivised, biased and fake reviews.

• Something in exchange for a review: a discount, free goods or services, a payment. Google doesn't allow it (“Tips to get more reviews” and Google's Maps content policy, read on 28 October 2026).
• Picking or discouraging: soliciting only positive reviews, or discouraging or prohibiting negative ones (same Maps policy).
• Fake reviews: reviews paid for, directly or in kind (same policy).
• Biased reviews: Google counts reviews based on a conflict of interest, such as current or former employment at the business, as biased (same policy). So it's best not to ask staff, past or present, to write reviews.

What about Airbnb's own rules?

Airbnb also doesn't allow reviews to be given or withheld in exchange for something of value, such as a discount, a refund or a reciprocal positive review (“Airbnb's Reviews Policy”, read on 28 October 2026). In other words, no “I'll give you five stars if you give me five”, and no refund in return for a review.

Is there UK law on reviews too?

Yes: the UK's Competition and Markets Authority publishes guidance for businesses on complying with consumer protection law when they handle consumer reviews (the CMA's “Fake reviews” guidance, CMA208, published 4 April 2025, page read on 28 October 2026). We haven't summarised it here: read it before you ask for or publish reviews.

Should you reply to Google reviews, good or bad?

Yes, if you have a profile: your replies are public, and Google advises staying professional and polite. Rather than the same “thank you” for everyone, it suggests replying mainly when you can add a useful update or answer a question. It also says that negative reviews aren't necessarily a sign of poor business practices (“Tips to get more reviews”, read on 28 October 2026).

What I do in my properties

I used to ask for Google reviews face to face, near the end of the stay, but not from guests I'd had no contact with: it felt awkward, so those stays went without a request.

I started in 2025 with a home-made page: QR codes for the Wi-Fi and for reviews, arrival information, house rules. It was far less complete than the guest guide I use today.

I have one Google Business Profile for my business, and the same review link in all my properties.

Since the request has been displayed on the sign in the property, it's the same for every guest, and reviews come in without me having to do anything.

Ahmed

Frequently asked questions

Can a guest without a Google account leave a review?

No: Google says customers must be signed in to a Google account to leave a review (“Tips to get more reviews”, read on 28 October 2026). They can still review on the platform they booked through, under that platform's rules.

Does Concierge Digital create my Google profile or collect reviews?

No. You supply the link to your review page; the guide's button and the A4 sign's QR code lead to it, and the reviews are posted on Google.

In summary

1. A holiday let on its own isn't eligible for a Google Business Profile; a business that meets customers in person, at stated hours, can apply.
2. Never create a fake profile (false name, false office): Google can suspend it.
3. If you have a profile, share its review link or QR code; guests need a Google account.
4. Ask every guest, without pushing, and offer nothing in return.
5. Don't pick your guests, don't discourage negative reviews and don't have staff write reviews.
6. Reply to reviews usefully and politely; with no profile, your reviews stay on your booking platforms.

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