> Hotels are concerned that direct booking clicks are down as much as 30% since our compliance changes were implemented. These businesses now have to connect with customers via a handful of intermediaries that typically charge large commissions, while traffic from Google was free.
That's because your search engine results are a joke, not because of the DMA.
If I search for 'hotel <city>', I get an ad from Booking.com, then some hotel ad, then an ad from Trivago, then some Google map with hotels (make sense, but all results there are sponsored by intermediaries), then Booking.com, then Booking.com again, then Expedia, then Tripadvisor, then Trivago.
If you only present me sponsored results from intermediaries, then don't be surprised that people only click on sponsored results of intermediaries.
That's because your search engine results are a joke, not because of the DMA.
If I search for 'hotel <city>', I get an ad from Booking.com, then some hotel ad, then an ad from Trivago, then some Google map with hotels (make sense, but all results there are sponsored by intermediaries), then Booking.com, then Booking.com again, then Expedia, then Tripadvisor, then Trivago.
If you only present me sponsored results from intermediaries, then don't be surprised that people only click on sponsored results of intermediaries.