Google is tightening its grip on the hotel search marketplace with the roll-out of a new platform this week.
Users in an unspecified five countries will have access to the service. The U.S. is not included in the list of the initial markets to see the platform.
The change comes after a decision made earlier this year to "completely rewrite our hotel stack", says Oliver Heckmann, vice president of shopping and travel at Google.
The change will include a ramping up of the platform's capability in terms of speed but it will also feature a new user interface.
Google is also planning on moving its Hotel Ads service into AdWords, with a full launch anticipated in early-2018.
Heckmann explains more in a short interview after his appearance at The Phocuswright Conference this week.
He also covers the "misunderstood" coverage of the recent decision to end support for QPX Express, ITA Software's flight shopping tool.