Everyone in Travel Wants a Fair Ranking…Until They Own One

The European Commission fined Alphabet €460 million this week, about $525 million, for favoring Google’s own services in search. The ruling covered hotel and transport results and formed the search portion of a larger €890 million penalty. The travel industry cheered, with EU Travel Tech, whose members include Booking Holdings, Expedia Group, Airbnb, and Tripadvisor, calling the decision a milestone for fair and open digital markets. The applause deserves a closer look. With Airbnb as the exception, nearly every company demanding fair treatment from Google also lets travel suppliers pay for better visibility in its own marketplace. Their formal complaint is about allocation: a dominant Google gives its own units the best real estate on the page and pushes consumers into its own auction. That complaint is fair. The same conflict repeats at every level of travel search. Start at the Top The Commission found that Google gave preferential treatmen