Small UK Online Travel Agency Pitchup Feels Dissed by Google on Advertising Relief
Photo Credit: Pictured is the Lakeside RV Park in Nevada. Pitchup.com founder and CEO Dan Yates thinks Google's rhetoric about working closely with small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic 'doesn't reconcile with reality." Pitchup.com
Skift Take
Google will make it through the coronavirus firestorm and will be in a relatively strong position on the other side. We don't know what kinds of deals the search giant is making with its largest travel advertisers behind closed doors, but for the majority of advertisers Google's largesse is pathetic.
Daniel Yates, the founder and managing director of campsite and recreational vehicle booking site Pitchup.com in West London, UK, sounds almost incredulous when talking about Google's announced aid to small business advertisers during the coronavirus crisis.
"Besides the fact that the advertising credits are chicken's feed, it's been five weeks and nobody's got anything yet," Yates said in a Skype interview.
His nearly 11-year-old bootstrapped company, which connects consumers with 4,500 campgrounds in 67 countries, did about $30 million in sales last year, and spent $1.4 million with Google.
[caption id="attachment_390012" align="alignright" width="400"] Dan Yates[/caption]
Yates, who recently had to furlough around half of his 15 staffers and cut off several dozen freelancers, points out that Google's small business support program, announced in late March, merely provides advertising credits for future business. And the credits will only start showing up in customer acc
