It is now possible to book a night at a hotel without leaving Google. A booking procedure has been added to the extension Google.com/hotels, which is already known for its listings of properties worldwide. For now, only a few hotels in the United States may be booked through the search engine (ex: Hotel Rouge, Washington – cover photo). These are essentially independent properties and in no case are they hotel chains.
The booking procedure takes after Google: minimalist and efficient. No banners, no aggressive advertising, just key information: which hotel? what days? what price? It also presents opinions gathered by Google. Google’s conversion to on-line distribution looks quite similar to what TripAdvisor had previously done. After gathering a plethora of customer opinions the latter launched itself into on-line distribution, but not without any difficulties.
Google is thus taking a new step into on-line hotel booking. Last year the search engine signed an agreement with the Californian company Room 77, which specializes in hotel reservations via mobile phones.
