If you've searched for hotels or flights from anywhere in the EU recently, you may have noticed Google's results page looks different. That's not a design refresh — it's the result of an EU antitrust enforcement decision, and Google rolled out the new format this week to stay on the right side of European regulators.
The change splits results into two clearly separated boxes. One is an "aggregator unit," a stack of third-party booking sites — the usual suspects like Booking.com and Agoda — with the top-ranked provider's results expanded by default. Clicking through takes you to that site's listings. The other is a "supplier unit," which shows deals sold directly by the airlines and hotels themselves, cutting out the middleman.
Why does this matter to regulators? For years, comparison sites and booking platforms complained that Google gave its own travel services preferential placement, squeezing out competitors. The two-unit setup is Google's attempt to level the playing field — and, more to the point, to avoid fresh multimillion-euro fines. Skift notes this is the latest in a series of tweaks Google has made to its European search results under pressure from Brussels.
A sample search for Madrid hotels from Spain shows the layout in action: comparison sites and direct providers now sit side by side but in distinct sections, rather than blended into a single ranked list.
For travellers, the practical upshot is mixed but mostly useful. If you like booking through an OTA for loyalty points, free cancellation policies, or bundled deals, the aggregator stack still puts those options front and centre. If you'd rather book direct — often better for special requests, flexible changes, and hotel-level perks — the supplier unit makes those offers far easier to find than before. The split also makes it simpler to compare a hotel's own rate against what Booking.com or Agoda are charging for the same room, which is exactly the kind of price-checking that used to require opening half a dozen tabs.
One thing to watch: the top aggregator's results are expanded by default, which gives whichever site ranks first a genuine visibility advantage. Savvy travellers should scroll past the expanded block and check a couple of the other aggregators too — the best price isn't always at the top.
The changes apply to EU-based users searching for flights, hotels, and restaurants. If you're searching from outside Europe, expect to see the older blended format for now, though regulators elsewhere are watching how this plays out. For anyone planning a European trip, it's worth running your searches before you travel rather than assuming you'll see the same results on the ground — where you search from changes what you get.