Is Google's purchase of Frommer's a step too far? Does this bring them one step closer to gaining a monopoly on Internet travel research? Details inside.

1. On August 13, Google
bought Frommer’s for
$23 million.
Frommer’s is a 55-year-
old travel guidebook,
primarily in print. They
also have a travel guide
website.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

2. Frommer’s to be
combined with Zagat.
Frommer’s had 70
employees.
Google laid off the
entire Frommer’s
website team.
Remaining Frommer’s
staff moved to Zagat
floor at Google HQ in
NYC.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

3. Google won’t say why
they bought.
Speculation: Google
bought Frommer’s to
round-out travel related
information discovered
on Google search that
ties in with their Hotel
Finder, Flight Search
and Google Local
products.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

4. This is part of Google’s
aggressive foray
into the travel and hospitality industries.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

5. 2010: Google purchases
ITA Software for $700
million.
ITA Software was an
airline shopper & price
system.
Google incorporated
this acquisition into it’s
Google Flight product,
which organizes flight
information.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

6. 2010: Google purchases
Ruba for an undisclosed
amount.
Ruba was a visual tour
guide and travel review
site.
The former Ruba team
has been working on
Google Local.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

7. 2012: Google purchases
Zagat for $151 million.
Zagat was a paid review
service.
Google made Zagat free
and incorporated their
ratings into their
Google Local search
results.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

8. Many travel and technology companies are unhappy with
Google’s purchase of Frommer’s.
“Google is abusing its already dominant
position in search which will lead to
devastating effects on the online
economy.”
-Expedia, Microsoft, TripAdvisor, Kayak and others.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

9. Interestingly, Frommer’
s data was used by
Expedia for its
hotels.com and
expedia.com
properties, and by
Microsoft for its MSN
Travel property, before
this acquisition.
Will this mean they no
longer have access to
Frommer’s data?
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

10. Frommer’s data does not rank well.
Frommer’s results appeared in
only .01% of 35,000 travel related
search inquiries.
Instead, Frommer’s is a print-first publisher, meaning it
has lots of high-quality travel content offline, waiting to be
put online.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

11. Speculation: Google bought Frommer’s to gain more
professional content curation for its travel products, adding
high quality content to its knowledge graph, making
Google Flights, Google Local, Google
Now for Android and Hotel Finder more
compelling,
which could potentially lead to more travel related business
made from within Google Search instead of online travel
agencies.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com

12. Key Takeaways:
• Google wants Google
Search to be a
destination for
travel-related
inquiries AND
purchases.
• It will be even more
important for hotels
to have a strong
online presence on
Google Search in the
years to come.
8.27.12 buuteeq, inc. www.buuteeq.com