Tnooz has an article describing Google’s need to balance speed with accurate pricing data in it’s integration of hotel rates within Google Maps.
This tool is designed to rapidly engage a Google Maps user with hotel pricing. Google has chosen to use cached rates with no live inventory searches In order to ensure the speed of results which made Google the leader in search.
While this may expose users to more frequent pricig errors, this decision will most likely not damage the impression of accuracy amongst individual users. Google will benefit since they are simply a gatekeeper for the rates. Users that find sold out rooms or rate discrepancies will more than likely be frustrated with the final point of sale rather than Google.
I liken a Google’s cached-rate with no availability to the advertised rates promoted via other email campaigns. Since this is likely tone a growing entry point for direct hotel channels I would not be surprised if this forces revenue managers to rethink the speed at which they update their rates.
Read more over at Tnooz.
http://www.tnooz.com/2011/03/09/news/google-maps-to-deliver-hotel-rates-fast-as-lightning-but-how-accurately