Here Are Travel’s Big Winners in an Antitrust Crackdown on Big Tech
Skift Take
Some are too scared to say so publicly, but much of the travel industry would welcome a diminution of Google's vast market power. If a U.S. regulatory probe gets going against Big Tech, it is a very open question how far-reaching a remedy might be in the offing.
Suddenly there is a glimmer of hope that the travel industry can get some relief from nearly mandatory fees: paying for ads in Google search and in its hotel and flights shopping services to get visibility.
That's because Google, Facebook, and Amazon could reportedly face tough antitrust enforcement from U.S. regulators, as well as an inquiry by the House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee. The U.S. Department of Justice would take a look at Google's business practices from a competition perspective while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission could take on Facebook and Amazon.
If Google, for example, were forced not to place its own travel businesses such as Google Hotels and Google Flights, recently consolidated into travel.google.com, high up in search results to the detriment of competitors' travel offerings, a wide swath of travel companies, from Expedia and Booking.com to Trivago and Kayak, could benefit. Depending on the shape of any antitrust remedies — and the teeth wo
