Promoting Unbiased Online Competition for Travelers

Travel Tech Advocates for Fair Market Rules to Restore Competition and Choice in Online Travel Search

Over the course of the last twenty-five years, the Internet has profoundly transformed the $3 trillion global travel industry, reshaping how consumers plan, book, and experience travel. Travel Tech member companies pioneered the technologies that enable consumers to have competitive travel pricing, availability, and reviews at their fingertips. Because of Travel Tech member company innovations, travel suppliers – airlines, hotels, and car rentals – must compete, benefiting consumers with more options and lower prices.

Millions of Americans open a Google general search page daily to help plan their next vacation or business trip. Many type “flight to Miami” or “hotel in San Diego” or wherever they intend to go into a Google search bar. Once they press “return,” they reasonably expect to be presented with a list of popular sites and specialized web-based tools to help them further refine their travel options to fit their budget and calendar.

However, most travelers won’t realize that Google purposely places or “self-preferences” its own travel offerings in the most prominent positions on its search results page (“SERP”). Google directs consumers to use its products first, like its Google Hotel Finder and Google Flights, which, as a result, garners the most user traffic. Other travel search tools, such as online travel agents and metasearch engines, are demoted to less prominent locations on the SERP. In doing so, Google abuses its dominant position in general web and vertical search to the detriment of travelers.