Google Flags Booking Partner Prices as Customized

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Hotel listings shown on phone and laptop illustrating booking partner prices

By NewSunSEO October 12, 2026

Updated October 25, 2026 at 6:22 PM ET

Reviewing what a travel client’s listing shows a shopper can be a useful habit. Since September 2026, Google’s DMA booking search widgets carry a line saying the price was set by the booking partner "based on factors such as your device type." The note appears only in EU regions where the Digital Markets Act applies.

What the disclaimer says

The widget line reads: "This price was customised by the booking partner based on factors such as your device type." Device type is the one signal Google names in the text. The company has not published the rest of the inputs, though location and language are commonly used by booking platforms and may play a role. The disclaimer appears inside Google’s booking search widget.

These are Google’s DMA (Digital Markets Act) booking search widgets, and this seems to be available only in the EU regions where the DMA is enforced. The disclaimer explains that the price was customised by the booking partner.

Why a reseller’s price can land on your client’s card

The pricing shown on a Google listing is not always the business’s own rate. Hospitality.today reported in a piece by its correspondent on October 12, 2026 that on six of 11 independent hotels whose Google Maps card showed the hotel’s own rate, someone else sold the room for less, and Google printed the lowest price on the hotel’s photo. The report describes one hotel whose own price, CHF 61, was on its card and linked to its own website, yet the photo at the top carried a cheaper figure: "On the photo at the top of the card, Google prints CHF 47 and a label: 45% below the usual price, great deal. That price is trivago DEALS."

According to the same report, other listings showed resellers undercutting the property’s own rate: trivago DEALS at a Munich hotel at 181 against the hotel’s 261, Vio.com at a Vienna hotel at 111 against 137, and Hotels.com at a Lisbon property at 76 against 91, where Hotels.com also bought the sponsored block on top. Klook and trivago appeared on two further hotels. Hospitality.today noted that Google’s help pages describe the figure shown for a property as "the lowest price provided across all partners," so connecting a rate feed puts the business’s own price on the card but does not guarantee it the spot next to the name. A reseller one unit cheaper can take that spot.

For an agency looking after a client’s profile, that is the practical risk: a hospitality client can do everything right on its listing and still watch a cheaper partner rate sit on the photo. An AI scan has an AI agent test-drive a website and report what it found, and BizScoreAI does this for a business profile.

Why device type alone is not the full picture

The disclaimer names device type, so the price can be customised based on the device a shopper uses. Device type is the factor named in the disclaimer, and it is unclear what other factors are being used. Search Engine Roundtable assumed the user’s location, language and other factors.

The price one shopper sees may differ from another’s, and may not be your own rate at all.

What to do now

Check the client’s Google Maps card and note which price sits on the listing photo, then confirm whether a partner rate is undercutting the business’s own price.
Connect the business’s rate feed so its own price appears on the card, while planning for the fact that the lowest partner price can still take the photo spot.
Repeat the search on a second device and in a private browsing window.
Review rate parity terms with any online travel agency partner that is listing a lower price on the client’s card.
Monitor the card over time.

What is still unknown

Device type is the factor named in the disclaimer. It is unclear what other factors are being used outside of device type.

FAQ

What factors are used to customize the booking price?

Google has named device type in the disclaimer text. It is unclear what other factors are used, though Search Engine Roundtable assumed the user’s location, language and other factors may play a role.

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This article reports on publicly available information from the sources listed below. We have no reason to believe it is inaccurate, but we have not independently verified every claim, and details may change as the story develops.