The French competition watchdog, the DGCCRF, launched an investigation in 2019 following complaints from hoteliers who said star ratings displayed in Google search results did not match official star ratings from state agency Atout France.

In a statement, the DGCCRF said: “This practice was particularly damaging for consumers, misled about the level of services what they could expect when booking accommodation.

“It also resulted in prejudice for hoteliers whose establishments were wrongly presented as lower ranked than in the official classification of Atout France.”

It said Google Ireland Ltd – as Google’s European headquarters – and Google France have now changed their practices and will display the official Atout France rating next to hotels and accommodations.

The matter was also referred to the public prosecutor for Paris, which this week imposed a €1.1 million fine on Google, which it has accepted.

A spokesperson for Google said: “We have now settled with the DGCCRF and made the necessary changes to only reflect the official French star rating for hotels on Google Maps and Search.”