BRUSSELS, September 10 — Google has started rolling out sweeping changes to its search results across the European Union, stripping instant pricing and availability from travel queries as it races to comply with the Digital Markets Act before a September 23 deadline. The shift is visible right now for anyone searching hotels or flights inside the bloc. Instant pricing and availability features are gone, replaced by links to specialised search engines and a carousel of hotels, airlines or restaurants that carries no real-time pricing or availability.
Under the DMA, the ranking of those results must be determined by Google’s search algorithm rather than by the company’s business interests. Google is not pretending to like it.
Nick Fox, the company’s vice president of search, told Reuters the changes “degrade the user experience for Europeans, boosting online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses and removing helpful features people rely on every day.”
A 460 million euro bill, and 60 days to fix it
The backdrop is a fine. The European Commission hit Google with a 460 million euro penalty (about US$543 million) in July for preferring its own services in searches for travel and shopping — a practice the Commission views as anticompetitive. Google was given 60 days to comply.
Miss the September 23 deadline and the DMA allows fines of up to 5 percent of the company’s global revenue. The changes are still rolling out, and Google has not provided an exact timeline for completion.
They apply only inside the EU. Searches elsewhere are untouched. Travel results have been a running sore in Europe for years.
In 2024, Google said EU-mandated changes led to a 30 percent drop in free direct booking traffic to businesses, before the DMA came into force. With the Commission now demanding more, Google suggests there will be additional traffic reductions.
The company also claims it is only giving people what they want, citing tests that showed users disliked the new results — its evidence being that people have to retype their search queries more often with the Euro-safe travel results.
Why this one matters beyond travel
The DMA came into force in 2022 and became fully applicable in 2023, imposing obligations on large online platforms designated as “gatekeepers.” Google is one of several tech giants in the Commission’s sights, and the regulation has already reshaped how companies including Apple and Meta operate in Europe. The July fine was one of the first major penalties under the new law. Watch the September 23 deadline.
How Google balances regulatory requirements against user experience here could set the precedent for search engines well beyond Europe’s borders — and for the next gatekeeper in line.
