Google’s Critics Dismiss Move Posting Competitors’ Travel Links as Window Dressing
Photo Credit: The living room of an Airbnb Luxe home in Provence, France. Google's competitors aren't impressed with its test to insert some of their links within a specialized box of vacation rental results. Airbnb
Skift Take
Google is bending somewhat to intense regulatory pressure in Europe. But its answers in travel to date aren't very meaningful.
Google competitors in Europe and the United States aren't putting much stock in the search engine's test in Europe where it is placing rivals links in a "carousel" above its own far-more-elaborate boxed collection of vacation rental offerings.
Michelle Schwefel, who heads the office of political communications for Deutsche Ferienhausverband (the German Holiday Home Association), told Skift that the carousel of three competitors' links that Google has been testing for several months "won't have a positive effect for competitors" because the design and user experience dramatically favor Google's own holiday homes business.
Here is an example of the Google vacation rental test; Google says it is conducting similar tests for flights, hotels, tour packages, jobs and local results although they are only visible to some users for now.
In the example shown, the Holidaylettings, HomeAway, and Cottages.com links take users direc
