ThinkReservations supports Google Analytics 4, also known as GA4, directly within ThinkWeb or your standalone booking engine. GA4 tracks the full guest journey across websites, booking engines, and devices, showing which marketing efforts actually drive revenue, not just clicks. With a ThinkWeb website, a base GA4 installation is automatically set up for you.
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Set up in Google Analytics
Set up cross-domain tracking in GA4 Admin by adding both your website domain and
thinkreservations.comto the domain list.Add your website domain and
thinkreservations.comto the unwanted referrals list in GA4.If you are running Google Ads, link them to your Google Analytics to track ROI and get a better understanding of what drives results.
Connect to Google Search Console to see how organic search interacts with your site and more. This gives you a complete picture of what drives bookings to help you optimize your marketing strategies.
Track Key Actions (Events) to measure events such as visitors clicking your "Book Now" button, and phone link clicks. GA4 automatically collects only some basic events. Ensure you identify and mark your valuable actions, such as completing a booking, as conversions (key event).
Set up on your Website
To track properly, the GA4 tracking tag needs to be placed on every page of your website, so visits and behaviour are properly recorded.
Please note that Google Tag Manager is not compatible with ThinkWeb or the ThinkReservations online booking engine.
Test and verify that the tracking works to ensure it correctly records visitor actions on your website.
Set up in ThinkReservations
The code to support GA4 is already added to the booking engine - it simply needs to be enabled in ThinkReservations with your unique ID from Google. Follow these steps to start using your GA4 account with your ThinkReservations booking engine:
Locate your Measurement ID, also known as your "G-ID", in your Google Analytics account for step 3 below.
Log in to ThinkReservations and navigate to Settings > Business Settings
Paste your ID into the Measurement ID field and click Save.
➡️ This typically starts with "G-" followed by 10 letters and numbers.Click Save.
Once you complete the above steps, data from the Booking Engine will be shared with Google for tracking. Initially, it may take up to 24 hours to see data in your Google Analytics account.
Technical Notes
ThinkWeb websites and the Standalone Booking Engine (SBE) send the standard set of GA4 recommended ecommerce events at each step of the booking process, not just the completed booking. These events fire automatically once your GA4 Measurement ID is saved in ThinkReservations. No additional code or scripts need to be installed.
Event | When it fires | ThinkWeb | SBE |
view_item_list | A guest runs an availability search and sees results. Re-fires on each new search. Includes the search dates, nights, adults, children, and pets. | Yes | Yes |
view_item | A guest opens a room or unit detail page. | Yes | No (the SBE has no room detail page) |
select_item | A guest clicks Reserve on a specific rate plan. Includes the rate type. | Yes | Yes |
add_to_cart | A guest adds an add-on or upsell. | Yes | Yes |
remove_from_cart | A guest removes an add-on, or removes a room from the cart. | Yes | Yes |
begin_checkout | A guest reaches the guest details and payment page. Re-fires if the cart changes. | Yes | Yes |
purchase | A guest completes the booking. Sent once per confirmation number. | Yes | Yes |
login_required (custom / ThinkWeb only) | A signed-out guest selects a member-only rate. | Yes | No |
Purchase event details
The purchase event includes the following information:
Confirmation ID (transaction_id)
Room revenue before tax (value)
Total taxes, sent separately (tax)
Currency
Rooms/items, with one line item per night
Why GA4 revenue is lower than your ThinkReservations total
GA4 receives room revenue before tax, with taxes reported separately. This follows Google's own ecommerce standard and is intentional. As a result, revenue in GA4 will be lower than the ThinkReservations total by the tax amount. Other platforms, such as the Meta (Facebook) pixel, receive the tax-inclusive total, so their revenue figures will not match GA4.
Seeing search details in your reports
Search details are sent as event parameters. To use them in GA4 reports and explorations, register each one once as an event-scoped custom dimension in GA4 under Admin > Custom definitions > Create custom dimension:
search_check_in
search_check_out
search_nights
search_adults
search_children
search_pets
We also recommend marking purchase (and optionally begin_checkout) as key events in GA4.
Final Notes
ThinkReservations handles GA4 installation for all ThinkWeb website accounts and any Marketing Subscriptions. However, we typically do not provide consulting to set up GA4 on sites hosted by other providers.
If you are attempting a DIY GA4 installation or working with another marketing firm, please follow the instructions provided above. We currently have hundreds of clients successfully using GA4, and these steps work reliably when implemented correctly.
If you are unable to complete the installation on your own and would like to explore our services, we are happy to have a Sales Account Executive contact you. Please reach out to sales@thinkreservations.com to request this.