The Ottawa National Capital Region (main core) is Ottawa and Gatineau
Dear Booking.com,
Ottawa–Gatineau (formerly Ottawa–Hull), is the official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec
Guests from abroad and all over the world coming to visit the Canada and the Nation's Capital are searching Booking.com and naturally beging to type O,T ,T,A ,W, A in the Booking.com search box.
The PROBLEM is that as potential guests to our fair city, type O,T ,T,A ,W, A, in the booking.com search box, they are presented with an incomplete list of SUGGESTIONS / Polygon Groups. The problem is another significant group containing approximately another 100 major hotels across the Alexandra bridge with view of the Parliament is "omitted".
Today, only the groups, Ottawa, Downtown Ottawa, and the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport are presented in the suggestions list as the potential Guest slowly types O,T,T,A,W....
Omitted is the "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" (NCR) polygon group, containing approximately 300 Booking.com properties. This NCR group is not getting hits on O,T,T,A,W and is negatively affecting these properties' revenues and results in guests having to book further away in Ottawa South near the airport, instead of some very close to Parliament hotels that are across Ottawa's Alexandra bridge in the NCR.
MORE DETAILS:
Referencing the "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" (NCR) area map above and another near the bottom of this article, the NCR indeed includes the major cities of Ottawa and Gatineau. Across the Ottawa river from Parliament Hill is the sister city in the NCR called Gatineau which hosts the Canadian Museum of History and the famous Jacques-Cartier historical park in Gatineau hosting Winterlude Actities for Canadians and was also the site for Canada's 150th anniversary Mosaic Scuplture garden; not to mention Gatineau Park and the Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park, a precious Canadian historical landmark, the cherished summer residence Canada’s 10th and longest-serving prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Therefore, the Ottawa-Gatineau region, as per its name. needs to always be suggested and presented in the list of suggestions in the search box drop-down because searchers of Booking.com do not know "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" exists to search on it, much less type it in the search.
Tourists in picture above are walking across the Interprovincial Alexandra bridge from Canada's most popular Museum of History, in Gatineau, to Ottawa Parliament Hill and Byward Market from Gatineau. Major Booking.com properties like the Best Western Plus - Gatineau-Ottawa, also in the "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" polygon group are situated 0 KM from this landmark location and not suggested.
Below is a map showing the 5 KM drive from the Kokomo Inn to Downtown Ottawa as well as all hotels in the NCR on both sides of the river. For a live view, click on the link below or the map image.
Problem can be demonstrated when a guest is wanting to use the suggested groups like (Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport) as they type the word "O-t-t-a-w-a" in the search. See screenshot below.
Today, 248 properties are in BOOKING.COM's un-presented group: "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" and this group is NOT suggested in the drop down.
Group "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" exists as demonstrated below but is not shown in the suggestions displayed above. (but Guest would have to type words "Ottawa National" for the "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" to be displayed and selectable. (Who would ever knowingly type Ottawa National when looking for a hotel?? It needs to be a suggested group like the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport group, agree??)
Note: To get the "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" to appear at all, as above, you need to enter "Ottawa Nation..."; and typing just "Ottawa" does not suggest the "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" in the pick list. Truly, this is when it needs to be presented to potential guests. Do you know any potential guest,say from EUROPE, would organically search on the word "Ottawa Nation"? Really? see... No hits for us!
Statistics today show there are "173" properties in Booking.com's "Ottawa" group and 248 "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region " properties.
Doing simple math, 248 Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region properties less 173 Ottawa properties = 75 National Capital properties, most near popular Canadian museums and Landmarks, are essentially invisible to potential Booking.com guests who dont know Gatineau even exists - just want a close hotel to see Ottawa landmarks.
If potential guest even knowingly, explicitly begins to type "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" , there are still NO results displayed for Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region. 248 properties in the NCR is a significant group not to display in the suggestion dropdown, don't you think?
Please compare Niagara screenshot above, when potential guest types "Niagar", suggestions are presented from both sides of the Falls, both the Ontario and the New York State and other suggestions are made. In comparison to the suggested list for "Niagara", the "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" is not being presented across the water, city, state and country boundaries of each side.
Depicted above is view from Ottawa's entrance to the Rideau Canal Locks, below Parliament Hill. Notice the proximity of the Museum of History across the Alexandra bridge.
Property ID: 892123
kokomoinn.com
Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region hotels, like Crown Plaza Gatineau-Ottawa, Hilton Lac Leamy, Best Western Gatineau-Ottawa are all closer than even the Downtown Ottawa hotels to Ottawa-Gatineau's famous and historical Jacques-Cartier park, just beside Canada's Musem of History, hosts Winterlude festival annually and also hosted Canada's 150th Anniversary Mosaic Canada 150 celebrations.
PROBLEM:
Guests from abroad looking for hotels in OTTAWA, naturally type O,T ,T,A ,W, A in the Booking.com search box and as they type they are presented with an incomplete list of SUGGESTIONS / Polygon Groups from only the ORANGE area and there is no OTTAWA suggestion displayed to guests that includes the PINK area. Guests do not know that they could possibly book a closer hotel to the Museum of History or Parliament Hill because they have not been suggested the "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" group.
Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region boundaries
SOLUTION:
Please ensure "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region " group is presented in the suggestion dropdown so all of the hotels on the City of Gatineau side of the Alexandra Bridge can visible to potential guests, or fix the polygon some other way. Consider, by weight, the total number of the Booking.com properties in each group and present respectively; 173 in Ottawa,15 in Ottawa-Downtown, 237 in Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier Airport... (NOTE The airport is in far south end of Ottawa), and 248 in Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region, many much closer to the area's major landmarks and attractions.The goal is better and closer choices for guests to book, and competitive fairness to booking.com's properties on both sides of he river. The grey striped area, especially closest to the river, on the Area map above is entirely the tourism area for visitors to Ottawa, the Nation's Capital!
PROOF: The 892123 property, using only Booking.com OTA, calendar is empty for Feb 2020 and technically it could be fully booked with 600,000 visitors heading to the Capital’s 42nd Winterlude celebration which begins Fri., Jan. 31, 2020 to Mon. Feb. 17, 2020. We, 892123, only use Booking.com OTA and not all the countless competive OTA's like Expedia.com that the other big hotels use, so this issue is VERY evident to properties not included in the other OTTAWA group suggestions in the Booking.com search box dropdown.
NOTE: Booking.com has not yet assigned an Area Manager to our property (892123), and we hope you will but we would like the opportunity to make aware Booking.com's Area Managers, on both sides of the river, of this issue because it is very tangible to smaller properties like ours, but definitely very much impacts your bigger accounts in "Ottawa-Gatineau National Capital Region" group, specifically Doubletree by Hilton, Hilton Lac Leamy , Ramada Gatineau-Ottawa, Crown Plaza Gatineau-Ottawa, Best Western Plus Gatineau-Ottawa, and others too.
Thank you for your attention into this matter.
With appreciation Booking.com,
