Google has two months to improve its search results for flights and hotels

Google has two months to improve the way flight and hotel search results are presented, according to the European Commission (EC) and national consumer regulators. The U.S. company also needs to explain how it sorts these search results. Otherwise, Google, a division of the Alphabet Group, faces sanctions in the EU. The world's most popular search engine has long faced investigations into its practices by antitrust authorities and consumer groups. The result has already been high fines in some cases. Current complaints relate to the prices of Google Flights and Google Hotels. According to the EC and the European Consumer Protection Associations, the final prices should include fees and taxes, which can then be calculated in advance, and the reference prices used to calculate the promoted discounts must be clearly identifiable. "EU consumers must not be misled when planning their holidays through search engines," said Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders. He added that the EC must ensure that consumers can make their decisions on the basis of transparent and objective information. The EC and consumer associations are also asking Google to change the standard rules for using their Google Store, as some cases have shown that merchants have more work to do than customers. "We welcome this dialogue and are working closely with consumer protection associations and the European Commission to see how we can make improvements that will be good for our users and further increase transparency," Google said in a statement.