Using schema.org branchOf with itemref

Question

I have a company page on which there are all local branches.

• In the page title, I have an ItemType organization defined.
• Each LocalBusiness (Hotel) is located further on the page.

For each hotel, I am trying to add the branchOf property using a meta tag, but both the Yandex and Google attributes are downgraded for this attribute. Is it possible to do this?

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization" id="schema-organization"> <meta itemprop="description" content="blah blah blah" /> <a href="/" itemprop="url"> <h1 itemprop="name">The Hotel Chain</h1> </a> <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress"> <div itemprop="addressLocality">new york city</div> <meta itemprop="addressRegion" content="NY" /> </div> </div> <!-- snip --> <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Hotel"> <meta itemprop="branchOf" itemref="schema-organization" /> <h2 itemprop="name">Hotel Location 1</h2> <a href="http://maps.google.com/blahblah" itemprop="map">Get directions on Google Maps</a> <div itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/GeoCoordinates"> <meta itemprop="latitude" content="40.7450605" /> <meta itemprop="longitude" content="-73.98301879999997" /> </div> <div class="wrap-address clearfix" itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress"> <ul class="ul-reset"> <li><span itemprop="streetAddress">1234 Some Street</span> (between 3rd Ave &amp; Lexington Ave)</li> <li> <span itemprop="addressLocality">New York City</span>, <span itemprop="addressRegion">NY</span> <span itemprop="postalCode">10016</span> </li> </ul> </div> <ul> <li><strong>Phone:</strong><span itemprop="telephone">555-555-5555</span></li> <li><strong>Fax:</strong><span itemprop="faxNumber">555-555-5555</span></li> </ul> <ul> <li> Information:&nbsp; <a href="mailto:[e-mail]" itemprop="email">[e-mail]</a> </li> <li itemprop="contactPoint" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ContactPoint"> <span itemprop="contactType">Reservations</span>:&nbsp; <a href="mailto:[e-mail]" itemprop="email">[e-mail]</a> </li> <li itemprop="contactPoint" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ContactPoint"> <span itemprop="contactType">Concierge</span>:&nbsp; <a href="mailto:[e-mail]" itemprop="email">[e-mail]</a> </li> </ul> </div> 

Answer 1

About itemref :

• it must be specified on items with itemscope
• used to refer to other properties (= itemprop in Microdata)

So this means for you:

• move itemref to hotel
• move itemprop="branchOf" to the organization

Minimal example:

 <div itemprop="branchOf" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization" id="schema-organization"> <h1 itemprop="name">The Hotel Chain</h1> </div> <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Hotel" itemref="schema-organization"> <h2 itemprop="name">Hotel Location 1</h2> </div>