Google changed search in Europe. Direct bookings just became more valuable.

On September 8, 2026, Google changed how it displays search results across the European Union. Anyone looking for a hotel, a flight or a restaurant now sees a comparison platform such as Booking or Expedia at the top, followed by two more with less detail, and only then the carousel of the businesses themselves. That carousel no longer shows live prices or real-time availability.

The news will age. The lesson it carries will not: a business that depends on one platform to be found depends on rules that change without asking. And anyone who already has their own channel working has just gained an edge over those who do not.

What happened, and why

The change stems from the Digital Markets Act, the European regulation limiting the power of large digital platforms. On July 23, the European Commission fined Google 460 million euros for favouring its own services, such as flights, hotels and shopping, in search results, and gave it 60 days to comply or face periodic penalties of up to 5% of worldwide turnover.

The Commission's position is that Google was favouring its own products over competing services, and that opening space for those services creates fairer competition.

Google's position is the opposite. Nick Fox, the executive responsible for search, said the changes worsen the experience for Europeans by boosting online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses. The company told Reuters this is the largest reduction in quality in the history of its search, and that tests with millions of European users showed many people repeating their search because they could not find what they wanted.

Google also said earlier changes made for the same reason cut free direct booking traffic to European businesses by 30%. That figure deserves care: it is Google's own assessment, from an interested party in the debate, and it has not been independently confirmed by the Commission.

For this article, the argument over who is right matters less than the practical effect. The changes apply only inside the European Union, so they affect every Portuguese business in these sectors.

Who feels it most

The sectors directly affected are accommodation, air travel and restaurants. In practice that includes hotels, holiday rentals, event venues with lodging, restaurants and travel agencies.

The mechanism is simple. If someone searches for a hotel in Braga and the first thing they see is a booking platform, they are more likely to book there. The hotel still gets the guest, but pays commission on someone who started out looking for it directly.

This is not a catastrophe. But it changes the arithmetic for anyone who lives on bookings, and it changes it most for those who relied on Google as a free shop window.

The platforms are not the enemy

Before the recommendations, a note of balance, because this subject invites easy outrage.

Booking platforms bring guests who would otherwise never find you, particularly foreign tourists. For many businesses, being on them is a sound decision.

The problem is not using them. It is depending on them. A platform should win you the first customer, and your own channel should keep them. When every booking passes through an intermediary, the relationship with the customer belongs to someone else.

What makes your own channel more valuable

A direct booking flow that genuinely works. On a phone, in few steps, with real availability and immediate confirmation. If booking on your site is harder than booking on the platform, the customer picks the platform, and fairly so.

A reason to book with you. Nobody leaves a platform out of loyalty. They leave because they have a reason: a better price on your site, more flexible cancellation, breakfast included, a preferred table guaranteed, a small touch on arrival. It need not be expensive, it needs to be visibly stated on the page.

A complete Google business profile. The business carousel still appears, just with less information. That makes everything left in it matter more: your own current photos, correct opening hours, answered reviews, a link to your site. When Google's information shrinks, every remaining element weighs more.

Turning the first intermediated booking into the second direct one. This is the highest-return point and the least worked. The guest who came through a platform is standing in front of you. Handing them a card, a code for their next stay, or inviting them to leave their contact details with proper consent is what makes next time direct.

A contact channel that is yours. A customer list with permission to receive communications, the company WhatsApp, email. Channels where no algorithm change decides whether your customer sees you.

How to tell whether this is already affecting you

You do not need expensive tools. You need to compare numbers before and after September 8.

First, the share of direct bookings in your total. If you note each month how many bookings came through the site, the phone and each platform, the trend in that proportion tells you whether you are losing ground.

Second, Google traffic to your site. In Google Analytics and Search Console you can see whether visits from search fell in the following weeks, and on which pages.

Third, enquiries. Fewer visits are not necessarily a problem if enquiries hold steady.

Give it a few weeks before drawing conclusions. A single week's fluctuation rarely means anything.

The lesson that stays

This is the third or fourth time in a few years that a change by a large platform has altered, overnight, how customers reach businesses. It will not be the last.

The answer that works is always the same, and does not depend on guessing the next change: have a place of your own where the customer can decide, book and come back. Platforms to win customers, your own channel to keep them.

Anyone who already had theirs working needs to do nothing urgent this week. Anyone who did not has just been given a good reason to start.

How Digito helps

We build your own channel, which is where the value stays.

We build websites with direct booking designed for mobile, connected to real availability and free of unnecessary steps. We take care of your business profile and local presence, so the limited space Google still offers is well used. We set up collection of customer contacts with the right consent, and the communications that turn one stay into a second booking. And we leave measurement running so you can see, in numbers, which share of your bookings is yours and which share is paying commission.

If you work in accommodation, restaurants, events or tourism and want to depend less on intermediaries, let's talk about your case.

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