European Digital Markets Act law should be rethought says Mirai

29.05.2024 - 12:58 / traveldailynews.com / Vicky Karantzavelou

Mirai reports a significant decrease in direct hotel bookings and Google Hotel Ads traffic in the EU due to DMA implementation.

MADRID, SPAIN – Mirai, whose technology solutions enable hotels to maximise direct sales opportunities and minimise distribution costs, can confirm the profound impact that the implementation of the European DMA (Digital Markets Act) has had on hotel direct sales. According to Mirai’s data, clicks on Google Hotel Ads have dropped by 30% in traffic, while direct bookings have dropped by up to 36% in EU markets affected by the DMA implementation.

The DMA, which was implemented between January 19 and March 7 this year, has brought about substantial transformations in the digital landscape across Europe, but affecting hotels around the world. As part of this in July 2023, the European Union designated six digital companies as `gatekeepers”: Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), and Microsoft (Windows). Recently, on May 13, Booking.com has also been designated by the European Commission as a gatekeeper.

In the case of Google, the gatekeeper designation means that it cannot include its own vertical services (Google Maps, Google Flights, or Google Hotel Ads) in its search results pages (known as SERPs). As a result Google, among the main organisations impacted, had to make changes to its platform, such as Google Hotel Ads.

These results raise significant concerns for European hoteliers, which have lost visibility and have regressed in their ability to sell directly, whilst dependence on intermediaries is increasing, negatively affecting their profitability. Additionally, a less clear and organised presentation of the hotel offer on Google, has compromised the user experience, making it more difficult to make purchasing decisions.

Javier Delgado Muerza, CEO EMEA at Mirai, said: “Since 2022, Mirai has been actively involved with this subject, working directly with the EU, Google, and the European hotel industry to ensure that the implementation of DMA is beneficial for the entire European hotel ecosystem and to find solutions that mitigate these negative impacts and promote a more balanced and competitive ecosystem. Therefore we are very disappointed that introduction of the DMA recently rather ironically and unfairly favours large US companies such as Booking Holdings or Expedia, whilst disadvantaging hotels. This contradicts the very principles of the anti-competitive laws they were hoping to bring in.”

Concerned hoteliers are urged by Mirai to file a formal complaint with the European Union‘s Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton, Internal Market and HOTREC, the umbrella association of hotels, restaurants, bars, and cafes in Europe.

Vicky is the