Latest news with #GoogleHotels
CNA
09-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
Google says discord over search results is unresolved; risks EU antitrust fine
BRUSSELS :Alphabet's Google said it failed this week to resolve disagreements with hotels, airlines and specialised search services such as Skyscanner over how it presents search results, putting it at risk of a hefty European Union antitrust fine. The U.S. tech giant held a July 7-8 workshop with critics to address EU antitrust charges of unfairly favouring its own services such as Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google Flights over competitors. The landmark Digital Markets Act seeks to rein in the power of Big Tech, with violations subject to fines as much as 10 per cent of a company's global annual revenue. Google offered two options at the workshop, likely the last of several before the commission issues a decision on the company's compliance in the coming months. In both options, vertical search service (VSS) such as Skyscanner, Kelkoo and would get a box at the top of the search page while hotels, restaurants and airlines would be ranked below them. "Competing interests continue to pull us in different directions," Google's lawyer Oliver Bethell wrote in a blogpost on LinkedIn on Wednesday. "While we have invited feedback throughout this process, we now need to bring this debate to an end without the interests of a few being prioritised over the millions of people and businesses in Europe who benefit from Search." Skyscanner said Google's proposals need more work. "The latest options on the table introduce significant changes, some of which risk misleading consumers and cementing Google's position at the top of organic results," its CEO Bryan Batista told Reuters. Thomas Hoppner, a lawyer at Geradin Partners who advises some of Google's complainants, was equally critical. "Google is shifting the focus to alleged tensions between direct suppliers and intermediaries, diverting attention from the root issue: its own non-compliance, which created these tensions in the first place," he said.
Skift
17-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
Expedia Makes Gains as Google Hotels Is Increasingly 'Bruised'
Google Hotels is still strong, but weakened by the Digital Markets Act — and Google's own AI Overviews. Agentic AI may one day make the changes we've seen to date under the DMA a mere footnote in the evolution of travel search. With Google Hotels under pressure and "bruised," Expedia, Tripadvisor, Trivago and a newbie, are making gains. Those are some of the findings in a research note from Bernstein on whether Google Hotels is "losing its relevance." The answer is: "Not yet." Bernstein pointed to two developments that are putting pressure on Google Hotels: The European Union's Digital Markets Act forced Google Hotels to a lower position on the Google search results page, and, second, Google's own AI Overviews are slowly becoming the answer to hotel searches. Bernstein examined 19,000 hotels across the U.S. and major European count
Reuters
21-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: Google faces EU charges of breaching DMA rules, sources say
BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators are set to charge Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab unit Google with breaching EU rules aimed at checking the power of Big Tech after proposed changes to its search results failed to address their concerns and those of their rivals, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The European Commission has been investigating Google for potential breaches of the Digital Markets Act since March last year. One probe focuses on whether Google favours its vertical search engines such as Google Shopping, Google Flights and Google Hotels over rivals, and whether it discriminates against third-party services on Google search results. The imminent charges concerned this issue, the people said. The other investigation takes aim at potential limitations that hinder app developers from informing users about offers outside the Google App Store free of charge.
