There’s hardly an area of technology or digital content in which the incumbents don’t fear Google (GOOG), which, due to its domination of Internet search, can have a big say over where on the Web curious consumers wind up. Online travel is among the areas Google is throwing its weight around. Go ahead and Google Hong Kong hotels, and you’ll see something that didn’t exist a few years ago: a horizontal stripe across the top of the page of actual hotels, drawing users’ eyes away from the listings of a normal Google search, the stuff that appears below, which is largely online travel agencies. Click on hotels in the stripe and you’ll be led to a reservation system of sorts, one in which Google gets more income.

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