Guide
How to onboard a Reservations End-to-End partner in the Google Actions Center
Confirm eligibility first. You need a direct contractual relationship with every merchant in the integration feed and a merchant list that matches Google Maps locations. The merchants' services must meet Google's standard service definition.1 Next, confirm technical capacity and complete Google's Partner interest form or work with its business development team. Wait for an invitation to begin a Reservations End-to-End integration.1 After the invitation, complete five setup tasks and send the daily merchant, services, and availability feeds. Then pass Sandbox and Production review before Google can schedule the launch.2,3,4,5 This sequence is for Reservations End-to-End integrations. Actions Center also lists Appointments, Food Ordering, Things to do, Cruises, Shopping, Lodging, and Local & Things to do in EEA as separate integration families.6
By Sergey Sulimko, Founder · · 10 sources, read Oct 12, 2026
What does the Actions Center change for Reserve with Google partners?
Google renamed the Reserve with Google Partner Portal to the Actions Center. The rebrand did not change the integrations or their onboarding requirements. Existing partners keep using their existing account, old links redirect, and the current portal is actionscenter.google.com.7
Read the full section
The partner path adds the implementation work behind the merchant-facing booking setup. A local business that only needs to add its own booking URL or connect a supported provider should use the online booking setup guide. This guide is for the partner that builds a Reservations End-to-End integration.
How do I get access to the Actions Center?
- Read Google's Reservations End-to-End overview and confirm your technical capacity and eligibility.
- Complete the Partner interest form or work with Google's business development contact.
- Wait for Google's invitation to begin the Reservations End-to-End integration.
- Sign in at
actionscenter.google.comwith the Google account that has Actions Center access.
Google says an Actions Center account lets a partner add merchants' services to Google for free. For Reservations End-to-End, Google gives the partner access to the Actions Center after the invitation to begin that integration.6,2,1
If the portal does not open, check the signed-in account's access level and make sure it is the only Google account signed in. Then try clearing cookies and cache or using an incognito window, sign out and back in, and check whether a Google Workspace administrator has enabled Partner Dash. If nobody at the company can access the portal, Google directs the partner to its point of contact or support.8
What must I configure before development?
After approval, open the Reservations End-to-End setup page in the Actions Center documentation and complete these five tasks before moving to development:2
- Configure contact information
- Upload your public SSH key
- Configure Booking Server credentials
- Enable CloudAPI
- Configure production brand information
The public SSH key is part of the feed connection. Google says the key configures the SFTP dropboxes where the partner uploads inventory data, so do not treat feed delivery as a separate manual handoff after setup.2,3
How do I make merchant and inventory data ready?
Upload the full merchant, services, and availability inventory automatically through the daily SFTP feeds. Each feed is uploaded once every 24 hours, and the feed payload must use processing_instruction set to PROCESS_AS_COMPLETE; Google says PROCESS_AS_INCREMENTAL is deprecated and cannot be used.3
Complete these four Feeds Ready tasks before moving to Booking Server:3
| Feeds Ready task | What to check before moving on |
|---|---|
| Merchant Feed Ready | The partner's merchant records are accepted. |
| Services Feed Ready | The services feed describes the merchants' bookable services. |
| Availability Feed Ready | Availability data covers the available service slots. |
| Data quality | The feed data passes Google's data-quality checks. |
The required feeds have these operating rules:3
| Feed | Frequency | Minimum rule |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant | Once every 24 hours | Describe the merchants supported by the partner. |
| Services | Once every 24 hours | Describe the services offered by those merchants. |
| Availability | Once every 24 hours | Provide at least 30 days of availability coverage. |
Google expects the automated infrastructure to send the full inventory. Availability coverage can be extended to 90 days by contacting Google support through the Actions Center contact form.3
What fields make a merchant record matchable?
| Merchant field | Requirement |
|---|---|
merchant_id |
Required. Generate it as a unique, stable ID across the partner's merchants. |
name |
Required. Use the merchant's name. |
geo |
Required. Provide the merchant's geographic information. |
category |
Required. Provide the merchant category. |
telephone |
Optional, but highly recommended for matching. |
url |
Optional, but highly recommended for matching. |
Read the full section
Build every Merchant record around an immutable, partner-generated merchant_id. Google requires that ID to be unique across all merchants and says not to change or recycle it for the same entity.9
Google uses the merchant's name, telephone, URL, and geographic information to match partner inventory to merchants already on Google Maps. Google says this matching information is not displayed. If a partner needs more than one configured consumer-facing brand, Google says the partner must contact Google to configure the separate brands.9
How do I use the Onboarding Guides to find the next gate?
After signing in, open the Home tab in the Partner Portal and select the Reservations End-to-End Onboarding Guides. The guides cover both Sandbox and Production work.10
Use the status on each task as a decision table:
| Status | Meaning | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Complete (Green) | The task met its success criteria. | Continue the integration work or request the next review when its prerequisites are complete. |
| Needs Attention (Red) | The task has an error or did not meet its success criteria. | Fix the error, rerun the relevant test, and check the task again. |
| Not yet available (Gray) | A dependency is not ready. | Complete the dependency before treating the task as a review gate. |
Google says a Reservations End-to-End integration is healthy when every check is Complete (Green). The displayed order is suggested, not a hard dependency for every task: partners can work on multiple steps at once or work on steps in another order. After a change, re-test that portion of the integration, allow up to two hours for the guide to update, and use the Refresh icon if the status has not changed.10
What must pass before I request Sandbox review?
Finish the Sandbox portion of the E2E Onboarding Plan and run the self-test before requesting review. Check these conditions first:4
- Merchant matching is high enough for the integration's test inventory.
- Services do not have missing availability.
SchedulingRulesandResourcesare correct.- Sandbox testing does not create bookings against live merchant inventory.
- The integration has exercised its known edge cases.
When the self-test and Sandbox milestones are complete, create a case in the Partner Portal and submit the Sandbox test form. Keep the daily feeds running, keep the Booking Server endpoints responsive, and keep the Sandbox portion of the onboarding plan green while Google tests the integration.4
What happens during Sandbox review?
Google's Sandbox review covers feed uploads, Booking Server behavior, and Real-Time Updates. Its listed end-to-end checks include making and cancelling a booking, checking confirmation email details, triggering a cancellation through the Booking Notification API, verifying slot removal through BatchAvailabilityLookupResponse, checking modified bookings, and checking for BatchAvailabilityLookup errors.4
Sandbox testing runs across several consecutive days and takes up to seven business days when no issues are found. If Google finds an issue, fix it and request a new review; Google says testing then resets and begins from scratch.4
What must pass before I request Production review?
Complete the Production portion of the E2E Onboarding Plan and the Production self-test. Then create a new Partner Portal case and submit the specific merchants and bookings through Google's Production review form.5
Keep the same operating conditions during Production testing: continue the daily feed uploads, keep the Booking Server endpoints responsive, and keep the Sandbox portion of the onboarding plan green. Production testing covers feed uploads, Booking Server behavior, and Real-Time Updates.5
What happens after Production review?
Production testing takes up to seven business days when no issues are found. If Google finds issues, correct them and request a new review; testing resets and starts again.5
After a successful Production review, Google sends a launch-readiness questionnaire. It asks for launch details including the launch date and public-relations materials. Prepare those materials during Production testing and obtain Google's approval before the launch can be scheduled.5
Common questions
- No. Reserve with Google is the merchant-facing and consumer-facing booking product. Actions Center is the partner-facing portal for managing integrations, which can include Reserve with Google, Order with Google, and other Google integrations. The Reserve with Google explanation covers the business and customer side.
- No. Google says the existing Partner Portal account remains the account used to sign in. Old links continue to redirect to the new portal.
- Yes. Google describes the displayed order as a suggested order. A partner can work on multiple tasks at once or work on tasks in another order, but a task marked Needs Attention (Red) still needs its error addressed before it can be completed.
- Google states that Sandbox and Production testing can take up to seven business days when no issues are found. When issues require a new review, testing resets and begins from scratch after the partner requests the new review.
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All read Oct 12, 2026