The EU fined Google for burying its rivals in hotel search. The hotel was never one of them. - Brussels fined Google €460 million on Thursday for putting its own Hotels, Flights and Shopping above competing services — and on Google's own published record, its fix for that has been to hand more of the page to comparison sites..

Jul 24, 2026 • Hospitality

US hotels have the brands, the apps and the points. The OTAs still take the booking. - Phocuswright's new US market data puts hotels at nearly two-thirds of all OTA gross bookings — in the one country that built its entire lodging industry around brand.com.

Jul 24, 2026 • Hospitality

The independent wholesaler didn't die. It became a giant. - You keep a few wholesalers in the mix so you're not all-in on Booking. It's the right instinct — but look hard at what those wholesalers have turned into..

Jul 24, 2026 • Hospitality

The franchise agreement decides what the AI knows about your hotel - 579 reviews and a 4.4 rating, built over 18 years, stayed with the brand when the hotel walked away from it. The brand owns the Google page — and the Google page is what the AI reads..

Jul 24, 2026 • Hospitality

The AI cares more about your eco-certificate than your guests do - Twelve models over-weight eco-certification when they pick a hotel. On September 27 the badge you wrote yourself becomes illegal — and the one that replaces it arrives with a price list..

Jul 24, 2026 • Hospitality