Google given two months to reform flight and hotel search results in EU
The European Union has given Google two months to change the way it presents search results for hotels and flights and to explain to authorities how it ranks them.
Credit: Solen Feyissa/Unsplash
On Monday, the European Commission and EU consumer protection authorities targeted Google Flights and Google Hotels for not providing enough detail on flight and lodging prices, Reuters has reported.
For example, the EU authorities said that prices should include fees and taxes that are calculated in advance. It also added that reference prices used to calculate promotional discounts should be clearly identifiable by the consumer. If Google doesn't comply, it could face sanctions, the authorities said.
"EU consumers cannot be misled when using search engines to plan their holidays. We need to empower consumers to make their choices based on transparent and unbiased information," said Didier Reynders, the EU's Justice Commissioner.
Additionally, the EU agencies told Google that it must revise the standard terms of its Google Store because, in some cases, traders seemingly have more rights than consumers.
"We welcome this dialogue and are working closely with consumer protection agencies and the European Commission to see how we can make improvements that will be good for our users and provide even more transparency," Google said in a statement.
The Mountain View search giant has seen increased scrutiny from antitrust regulators in recent years. Google was slapped with an antitrust lawsuit from state attorneys general for its Google Play Store management. It was also fined nearly $600 million for non-compliance with competition regulations in France.
The U.S. Justice Department also levied a massive antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2020, claiming that it uses it market power to snuff out competition.
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Credit: Solen Feyissa/Unsplash
On Monday, the European Commission and EU consumer protection authorities targeted Google Flights and Google Hotels for not providing enough detail on flight and lodging prices, Reuters has reported.
For example, the EU authorities said that prices should include fees and taxes that are calculated in advance. It also added that reference prices used to calculate promotional discounts should be clearly identifiable by the consumer. If Google doesn't comply, it could face sanctions, the authorities said.
"EU consumers cannot be misled when using search engines to plan their holidays. We need to empower consumers to make their choices based on transparent and unbiased information," said Didier Reynders, the EU's Justice Commissioner.
Additionally, the EU agencies told Google that it must revise the standard terms of its Google Store because, in some cases, traders seemingly have more rights than consumers.
"We welcome this dialogue and are working closely with consumer protection agencies and the European Commission to see how we can make improvements that will be good for our users and provide even more transparency," Google said in a statement.
The Mountain View search giant has seen increased scrutiny from antitrust regulators in recent years. Google was slapped with an antitrust lawsuit from state attorneys general for its Google Play Store management. It was also fined nearly $600 million for non-compliance with competition regulations in France.
The U.S. Justice Department also levied a massive antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2020, claiming that it uses it market power to snuff out competition.
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Comments
https://hotellaw.jmbm.com/federal-legislation-introduced-making-hotel-resort-fees-and-other-mandatory-charges-illegal.html
But let me ask you this, if in the EU, hotels are required by law to show the actual cost of the room per night, including all taxes and mandatory fees, then why is it up to Google to enforce that law? All Google search is doing is going by the price that hotels are advertising. If hotels are not advertising their room rates as required by EU laws, shouldn't there be some other commission in the EU that see to it that hotels are obeying the laws? Why does the EU have to force Google to enforce EU laws, under the threat of being fined, if hotels that aren't complying with the law concerning advertising room rate, ends up being listed high on a Google search result? Google is not the one advertising the room rates of the hotels, in their search result. If all the hotels were complying with the law, then a Google search of ...... "cheapest hotels in what-ever EU city" ...... would yield a result that shouldn't be deceptive to consumers. Unless Google is listing paid search results higher on the list, even though they might not be cheaper than those that didn't pay Google.
It's different in the US as there is not yet a law barring hotels from not including the "resort fee", when advertising their room rate. Even if the "resort fee" is mandatory. So it's buyers beware. So maybe here, Google has some responsibility to consumers, to see that their search results for ..... "cheapest hotels"....., are comparing apples to apples. Just like how on eBay, I can better compare the price of an item from different auctions, with a search filter using ....... "price + S&H, lowest first".
It seems it's more of a question of Google complying with the law and presenting its search results in line with it.
Information here and at Reuters is scant but it does claim that in some cases traders were being more favorably than consumers.
IMO what the EU wants (if I'm correct0 would be akin to mandating that Google surface home internet prices advertised by FiOS or Comcast or XFinity only AFTER taking it on themselves to compute the fees and taxes per area and adding it to the provider's advertised price.
However, the reference to Google Flights and Google Hotels seemed to be pointing the finger at two specific Google products as opposed to the simple collation of online prices.
The claim that 'traders' were favoured over consumers also stands out.
There seems to be more involved here than simply presenting flight and hotel information from the web. The problem is the lack of detail as to what the true issues are.
https://insights.ehotelier.com/suppliers/2019/08/19/whats-the-story-behind-google-hotels-and-should-otas-be-worried/
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/google-hotels-how-to-use/
Now in the US, when the map shows up with the cheapest hotels in the city you're searching, with their advertised prices, the price indicated might not be the actual final price. So a hotel with a $80 price can cost more than a hotel with a $100 price as the $80 hotel might have a $40 mandatory resort fee and the $100 hotel includes the resort fee. One would have to go through the trouble of doing an actual comparison at each of the hotel websites, if one was looking for the cheapest hotel. Which Google Hotel site actually helps you with.
But in the EU that should not be the case, as there are laws forbidding hotels and booking agencies from not including any mandatory fees in their advertised price. So just by looking at the map, one already know that an $80 room is cheaper than a $100 room, unless the hotel listing is not complying with EU laws when they are advertising their room rates. And Google should not be the one to enforce those laws. Nor be "sanctioned" because their search results are using the misrepresented rates, that these hotels were advertising.
>For example, the EU authorities said that prices should include fees and taxes that are calculated in advance. It also added that reference prices used to calculate promotional discounts should be clearly identifiable by the consumer. If Google doesn't comply, it could face sanctions, the authorities said.
"EU consumers cannot be misled when using search engines to plan their holidays. We need to empower consumers to make their choices based on transparent and unbiased information," said Didier Reynders, the EU's Justice Commissioner.<
https://travelfairnessnow.org/2019/07/travel-fairness-now-recommends-government-act-to-halt-deceptive-hotel-resort-fees-2/
>Hotel resort fees are so deceptive that some countries have made them illegal, including Australia and the European Union.<
Google gets paid for including hotels in their listing, advertising and clicks, (not to mention the value of data mining) and not from the booking. The booking is done at the hotel websites or the online travel agency advertising the hotel room. Where Google Hotel will supply you with the link. There is no cost for the consumers to use Google Hotel or to just do a simple Google search, to find the hotels that meets their needs. Google Hotel is not an online travel agency like Expedia, where they get a commission for each booking done through them and can set the price. And the price might be cheaper if you were to actually book a room at the hotel website, than through Expedia. But Expedia will not tell you that, but a Google Hotel search might.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hotel-booking-sites-to-make-major-changes-after-cma-probe
The "traders" is in reference to their "Google Store" (not Google Play Store) and not anything to do with "Google Hotel" and how results are display when searching for a hotel using Google search engine.
https://www.howtogeek.com/709045/what-is-the-google-store/
https://store.google.com/us/?hl=en-US
Your guess would be just as good as mine, as to what a "trader" is, in relation to the Google Store.
As I said earlier, it's not about Google enforcing the law bur complying with it.
I managed to dig out the issues which consumer protection agencies are asking Google to be clearer on:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/consumer-rights-and-complaints/enforcement-consumer-protection/coordinated-actions/social-media-and-search-engines_en