The applause over the European Commission fining Google 460 million euros ($525 million) deserves a closer look, argues Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali. The Commission penalized Alphabet for favoring its own services in search results covering hotels and transport, and travel groups like Booking, Expedia, Airbnb, and Tripadvisor cheered through their lobby, EU Travel Tech.

But Ali points out that — Airbnb aside — nearly all of them do the same thing in their own marketplaces, charging suppliers to pay for better visibility. Their complaint about Google favoring its own listings is fair, Ali writes, but the same conflict repeats at every level of travel search.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi joins the CEOs of Booking Holdings, Expedia Group, Hilton, and Accor on stage in New York City, September 22-24.

Every layer of travel search now charges for visibility. North Javits Center is where you put that to the people setting the rules.
Standard pricing ends July 30.

CLARITYPAY + SKIFT

JetBlue’s ClarityPay partnership shows how financing can support loyalty, personalization, and higher-value travel purchases.

Southwest posts record revenue after overhauling its entire business model, American Airlines hits record revenue too but keeps cutting its profit forecast, and the timeshare industry is consolidating for a reason most travelers would never guess.

On today's Skift Daily Briefing, Sarah Dandashy breaks down why the new Southwest might actually be stronger than the one it replaced, why American's record revenue quarter still comes with a cautious outlook, and why timeshares are really a lending business in disguise and why that's driving consolidation.

How are public travel companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to understand global market movements. Paid subscribers get full access here.

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