Google is leaving tourism – one of the most expensive brands in the world and the most popular search engines announced that it was closing airline booking section. And the hotel booking section was closed to them even earlier. The reason, oddly enough, is complaints and fines for unfair competition, and not at all problems due to covid.
In particular, the latest announcement was that in October this year the Google travel section will be closed in Germany . Further, it will be gradually phased out around the world – a complete closure is scheduled for March 2023. At the same time, it is reported that the hotel booking section was closed in May of this year.
The reason is complaints from hotels and subsequent fines from regulators industries. In the EU, Google has been repeatedly sued, stating that the search engine's practice of booking hotels “creates unfair competition.” As a result, Google was repeatedly fined large sums, which the “most expensive brand” did not need: apparently it turned out that the game was not worth the candle.
By the way, Google held out in second place in the ranking of the most expensive brands for seven whole years – from 2013 to 2019. At the moment, he dropped to fourth place, skipping ahead of Microsoft and Amazon. As for the first place, according to the Interbrand agency, it is invariably occupied by McDonald's, which left Russia.
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