Report: Google $1.34 Mln Fine Over Hotel Rankings

[engine]

According to a report at Reuters, Google Ireland and Google France is to pay a fine of 1.12 million Euros ($1.34 million) following an investigation finding that Google's hotel rankings could mislead consumers, and that Google has now changed its hotel ranking practices back in September 2019.

[reuters.com...]

[Robert Charlton]

I saw this thread and thought, "Good heavens... what could G possibly have done in mis-ranking hotels?"... and now that I've checked it out a bit, I'm thinking, "Good heavens... when in Paris, do what the Parisians do... every little damned thing.

"Don't call a wine by the wrong terroir. Don't cross the Académie française. Build yourselves an algo to figure out all potential cultural quirks and quakes." ;)

If I read things correctly (and now I worry), it seems that what Google did is to use their own star system to rate hotels, not the institutionalized French system... and the ensuing consumer confusion cost them Big Euros. See this in Politco.eu...

Google fined €1.1M in France for misleading hotel ranking
"The regulator said the practice was ‘particularly damaging’ for consumers and hoteliers"
February 15, 2021
[politico.eu...]

The investigation, prompted by complaints from hoteliers, assessed the ranking of more than 7,500 establishments that displayed stars on Google's search results. The DGCCRF said that the practice was "particularly damaging" for consumers, who were misled about the benefits they could enjoy when booking an accommodation, and for hoteliers, whose hotels were presented as being lower-ranked than in Atout France's official classification.

And, slightly off-topic, this should serve as a reminder always to use native speakers when translating your website for a foreign market... and actually I'm not joking. ;)

[JorgeV]

Hello,

The fine is very small.

I went to France a couple of time, and discovered that their star ranking, has nothing to do with the quality of the service provided, but based on the services available. I remember for example, that one of the criteria, was to have a phone booth in the hall of the hotel :)

Google just has to replace stars by another icon, and that is fine...