Google Warns: Old Format Could Cut Hotel Traffic

By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Google warned that reverting to the previous format of 10 blue links in search results could decrease hotel traffic significantly. This statement was made on Thursday as Google attempts to strike a balance between the demands of price comparison websites and hotels while adhering to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary has recently announced several changes in search result formats in response to conflicting pressures from multiple parties, including hotels, airlines, small retailers, and price-comparison sites. The DMA prohibits Google from favoring its services and products in search results.

Last month, Google conducted a test of the classical format featuring 10 blue links per page in several nations, including Germany, Belgium, and Estonia. The company indicated that it might have to revert to this format if an agreement with its competitors fails to materialize.

The test concluded this week revealed that the old layout led to negative experiences for users and hotels alike. According to Oliver Bethell, Director of Competition Legal at Google, users reported reduced satisfaction with search results and experienced longer search times for hotels, often needing to conduct multiple searches. Additionally, many users gave up finding what they were looking for altogether.

The results were particularly detrimental to hotel traffic, which saw a decrease of over 10%, impacting hundreds of thousands of European hotels. In contrast, traffic to intermediary sites remained largely unchanged.

Moving forward, Google plans to gather feedback from the European Commission to explore viable solutions. This announcement follows criticism from over 20 price comparison websites that claimed Google disregarded their feedback and called for EU antitrust regulators to hold the company accountable for its apparent noncompliance with the DMA.