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Will Google take on hotel distribution?

February 01, 2011 |

It’s enough to strike fear in the hearts of OTAs worldwide - if Google enters the hotel booking game, what will the resulting merchant landscape look like? Don’t worry about it too much because the scenario is not likely, according to industry experts.

Despite buzz surrounding Google’s pending acquisition of ITA Software, there are no signs that Google plans to become a hotel room retailer, according to industry participants. In fact, many think Google’s increased interest in travel-related search results could be a benefit, with an important exception being the online travel agencies.

To be clear, ITA processes flight information so the acquisition by Google in itself does not affect hotels directly. What is likely to happen, however, is OTAs will respond to the changes and that will in some way affect hotels, according to Tim Unwin, senior VP, product management for Pegasus Solutions.

Google will likely take the combined capabilities of ITA and its existing platforms to the hotel search and discovery process, according to Henry Harteveldt, VP & principal analyst, Airline & Travel Research, Forrester Research.

“Google wants to take advantage of ITA’s capabilities to understand (consumer search) intent,” he said.

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