Tip: list your place on Google MyBusiness

Yes, I should upload some photos. I’m not familiar with the concept of a phone number for “trash” use. How does that work?

Here you can have two different phones number with the same SIM card. Your phone displays a special code which tells you that the person is calling/texting you at your secondary number. You can set parameters when you want to direct these calls to voicemail, etc.

I use this secondary phone number to put on listings, etc, this way my main phone number remains safe and private and I can change my secondary phone number without having to tell all my contacts if ever there’s a problem .

But I guess you could get another phone number with a cheap prepaid card if this option is not available locally :). That would involve having two phones though.

Here in the States you can buy a $15 flip phone from Walmart or wherever, and set up with Virgin Mobile for $20 a month for 400 minutes of calling time. Add money if you want to text with the thing (I don’t).

I already have a Google MyBusiness account for my Personal Chef work. Will see if I can add another business.

I’m so obtuse. @Barthelemy - did you enter your street address? It seems like I’m being required to.

HI @Barthelemy,

That sounds very handy. But I don’t imagine such things are offered here. In India, even regular voice mail is hard to find. And I’ve heard of fancier things like have your voice mail messages emailed an audio file, which sounds even better.

Most Indian phones use cheap prepaid cards. Including mine, currently. :slight_smile:

By Indian standards that would be an incredibly expensive calling plan. But I suppose that comes as no surprise to anyone.

Hm, I found this

"Ineligible businesses

The following businesses aren’t eligible for a business listing:

Businesses that are under construction or that have not yet opened to the public.
Rental or for-sale properties, such as vacation homes, model homes or vacant apartments. Sales or leasing offices, however, are eligible for verification.
An ongoing service, class, or meeting at a location that you don't own or have the authority to represent. Please coordinate with your host to have your information displayed on the listing for their business within their "Introduction" field."

So, what category did you use to list your business?

“holiday apartment”… From what I understand you should not list properties for sale or long-term leases, but holiday rentals are allowed.

In my area Google displays availability and prices for several holiday rentals directly when you browse Google Maps so it seems legit.

1 Like

@dcmooney indeed a street address is required.

@Barthelemy Great idea! Will report back how it goes in Barcelona.

I only had the choice of:

Holiday Flat
Holiday Home Letting Agency
Holiday Park

hmmm looks like I’m an Agency now!

It also appears that I can only choose the Post option to verify…takes a couple of weeks to verify by snail mail.

I wound up using “Home Stay”, I think. That’s an Indian term, possibly. It means (as the name suggests) staying with a family. And yes, only a Post option was available here.

1 Like

I got Holiday Apartment option in Barcelona. However, they have to send me a post card (!!) to verify. Very Odd.

If you are listing your home or vacant apartment as a “short term rental” you may want to reconsider this, as it is against Google’s T.O.S…

"Ineligible businesses
The following businesses aren’t eligible for a business listing:

Businesses that are under construction or that have not yet opened to the public.
Rental or for-sale properties, such as vacation homes, model homes or vacant apartments. Sales or leasing offices, however, are eligible for verification.
An ongoing service, class, or meeting at a location that you don’t own or have the authority to represent."

The rules may be different where you are. You can check here.
https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en

@Jamr I think the rules are different for Europe and as Google gave myself and @Barthelemy the option to list our properties are ‘Holiday Apartments’.

Hey Barthelemy
Is it necessary to have a website to use Google my business?

So I got a call over the weekend from someone who found my place using a Google search! That’s the good news…the bad news is that I forgot I set that up and ended up sounding like a complete twit on the phone (no booking actually took place SURPRISE!). Anyway, it does work people - just be ready for that phone call :wink:

2 Likes

@Barthelemy and @dcmooney, did Google ask you to verify your address somehow? I know for other business listings sometimes they snail mail an actual postcard to the address you specify. I love this idea but I am not comfortable listing my address to non-guests and to the public… which makes advertising and marketing harder, I know. In any case, I was wondering if in the Google business listing I could somehow specify a general address or just the area my place is in instead of the exact postal address…

I never followed through; I don’t remember why. Some quiet evening in the off season I’m going to figure all this out…

Yes you get by post a code that you need to enter to verify the adress