Google launches free hotel booking links

The tech firm said the initiative, which applies to booking links within google.com/travel, was designed to “support the recovery of the travel industry”.

Richard Holden, Google Travel’s vice-president, product management, told the ITB Berlin online event that they were “thrilled” to be making the move to make booking links free.

“We’re now making it available in organic [search] for free,” he explained. “This is one further step to make our hotel product more comprehensive.

“It’s a great opportunity not only to serve advertisers but to make it available to any player in the eco-system to make hotel offers free within the product.”

Holden said that Google was also working on further developments to make it easier for smaller hotels to display their offers through the search engine’s platforms.