Google
is making moves that further blur the line between hotels and private
accommodations.
The
search giant says searches for “beach rentals” and “staycations” grew by more
than 100% globally in the last year and now it wants to better serve that
interest by combining vacation rentals and hotels in one comprehensive search
result for a destination.
Beginning
today, consumers that search for accommodations in a specific destination may
see both hotels and vacation rentals in the search results on google.com/travel.
The “vacation
rentals” filter – launched in 2019 – remains for users that want to limit results
to only non-hotel properties, but without that filter the default display will
show both types of accommodations.
Google
says results are ranked organically based on relevance to the user’s query. The
company would not provide a list of current supply partners, but searches on
the site show listings from Tripadvisor, Vacasa, Red…