Our Benalmádena hostel found its best guests on Google, not Booking

We've had the hostel for 16 years. My husband Marcos and I bought it in our thirties thinking it would be a temporary adventure, and here we still are in our fifties. Hostal La Palmera is in Benalmádena village, not on the coast, ten minutes' walk from the beach. That's what sets us apart: we're not a beach hotel with a pool, we're a charming place in the old quarter.

We always relied on Booking. We have 340 reviews there, 4.3 out of 10. It works, people come, we don't complain. The problem is that about two years ago we realised the booking pattern had changed. Before, people searched directly on Booking. Now they search on Google, see Google Maps results, and only then go to platforms to book.

And on Google Maps we had 12 reviews.

Twelve. With 16 years in business and 340 Booking reviews. Because nobody thinks to leave a Google review when they've just left one on Booking. They're separate worlds for the guest.

Marcos handles the tech side and it was him who suggested trying it. The idea was to specifically ask for Google reviews from guests who had already left, by WhatsApp, a day or two after check-out. Not at the moment of leaving, when people have their luggage and their minds on the airport.

The first results were surprising. People who'd stayed weeks before responded as if they'd just left. "How lovely, I'm glad you asked, it was a beautiful stay." Some left very detailed reviews about things we didn't even know they'd liked that much. A woman from Amsterdam wrote three paragraphs about breakfast on the terrace overlooking the castle.

Three months later: from 12 to 57 Google reviews, 4.7 stars.

What changed: we started appearing in searches we hadn't been capturing before. "Charming hostel Benalmádena", "white village accommodation Costa del Sol", "romantic hostel Benalmádena." People who were clearly not searching on Booking but on Google.

The most important thing we learned: Booking and Google Maps serve different purposes. Booking reviews help convert someone who already found you. Google Maps reviews help people find you before they even get to Booking. You need both.

Now when someone new comes who booked directly from Google Maps, I ask how they found us. The most common answer: "I saw the reviews on Google and one convinced me that said it was the only hostel in the village that made you feel at home."

That review was left by a guest who's been coming for three years. We never asked her to write it. She wrote it because we asked how her stay had gone.