Google is updating its hotel prohibited practices policy to specify that (1) you are required to display final room availability and rates before requesting user information and (2) you are required to avoid price changes after users enter their personal information.
These updates are going into effect on February 17, 2025. Google wrote:
They are clarifying our policy on misrepresentation to explicitly require partners to:
- Display final room availability and rates before requesting user information: This means implementing live price and availability checks on your booking page.
- Avoid price changes after users enter their personal information: If the requested room rate becomes unavailable after this point, the reservation should be completed with no price change for the user.
"Failing to comply may result in account suspension," Google added.
Google also clarified that:
- Duplicate Hotel Center Accounts: Creating duplicate accounts to split inventory is prohibited.
- Suspension Clause: Google is updating its suspension clause for greater clarity and transparency.
So those using hotel center and the hotel platform on Google must make sure to comply with this.
I should add, recently, Google allowed European hotels to remove pricing details from search.
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