Airlines, hotels, retailers fear being left out in Google’s search changes

Lobbying organizations representing airlines, hotels, and retailers have called upon European Union tech regulators to guarantee that Google considers their perspectives, not solely those of major intermediaries, when implementing changes to adhere to significant tech regulations. The Airlines for Europe group, which includes members like Air France KLM and British Airways owner IAG, along with the hotel group Hotrec, European Hotel Forum, EuroCommerce, Ecommerce Europe, and Independent Retail Europe, voiced their apprehensions in March regarding the potential effects of the new regulations.

The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) lays out a set of regulations for Google and five other major tech companies, intended to offer users greater options and competitors a fairer playing field. However, the lobbying groups expressed apprehension that these adjustments might negatively impact their revenues. In a collective letter addressed to EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager and EU industry chief Thierry Breton, dated May 22, they highlighted that their concerns have intensified since then.

“Our industries harbor significant concerns that the solutions and implementation requirements proposed for the DMA may exacerbate discrimination,” they stated. “Preliminary assessments suggest that these modifications pose a significant risk of diminishing companies’ direct sales revenues, as they could elevate the status of dominant online intermediaries through preferential treatment.”

The Commission, currently probing Google for potential DMA violations, did not provide an immediate response to a comment request. Google, which previously highlighted in a March blog post that alterations to search results allocate more traffic to major intermediaries and aggregators while reducing visibility for hotels, airlines, merchants, and restaurants, refrained from immediate comment. “We are troubled by the investigation’s focus solely on the equitable and non-discriminatory treatment of third-party services, without recognizing European businesses that also rely on Google for offering their services,” remarked the groups.