Google launched the new venture last week. Called Hotel Finder, it is a meta-search engine that allows travellers to find, explore and book hotels in the destination of their choice. The search engine trawls through six major OTAs, including HTN, to deliver its results.
Like any Google search engine, travellers can search in a number of ways, typing the name of a hotel into the search bar or entering a destination and then filtering through options by selecting preferred check-in and check-out dates, price or hotel stars.
Hotel Finder then delivers a list of relevant hotels. Travellers can click on a hotel, see its location using Google Maps, flick through photos of the hotel, and read reviews before deciding whether to book.
Visitors can also check out prices on major online booking engines including HTN.
Mr Speers told The Phuket News, “They’re very serious, and it will certainly be a cost to us.
“But it’s too complicated [to to make it work effectively]. No one in the world can do it. They’ll never be able to do it accurately.”
Though he admitted that the Google name would draw many users initially, and that “it’s a tool everyone will have to use”, he predicted that the problem of providing accuracy would eventually result in “a drift back to the powerful OTAs”.
The Hotel Finder website can be found here.