Guatemalan storefronts and search run in Spanish, though 22 Mayan languages, K'iche', Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel and Mam among the largest, are spoken at home, mostly in the western highlands. Prices are in quetzales (GTQ), while cars, property and some electronics are often listed in US dollars. Card purchases are commonly split into monthly instalments (cuotas), and cash on delivery is still widely offered, so checkout pages change with the payment option chosen. Delivery options are widest in Guatemala City and neighbouring Mixco and Villa Nueva, and narrow quickly in the other departments.
A few groups dominate retail. Walmart runs Paiz, Despensa Familiar and Maxi Despensa, Cemaco sells home goods and Max sells electronics, each with its own online store, and PriceSmart operates membership warehouses in the capital. Mercado Libre keeps a Guatemalan site, Encuentra24 carries classified listings for cars, jobs and property, and PedidosYa handles food and grocery delivery. News and display advertising run through Prensa Libre, Soy502 and Publinews. Travel pricing is its own category, since hotels in Antigua Guatemala and around Lake Atitlán often quote rates in US dollars.
Google dominates search, and results for Guatemala City, Quetzaltenango and Antigua Guatemala differ in local packs and ads, especially for hotels, restaurants and tours around Antigua. Guatemala has no general data-protection law yet: the Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) covers personal data held by public bodies, and data protection bills were still before Congress in 2026.
Travel pricing follows a different map from retail. La Aurora airport in Guatemala City is the main gateway, and TAG, the Guatemala City-based airline, flies to Flores, the base for visiting Tikal, and to Puerto Barrios on the Caribbean, as well as to Roatán, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Belize City, Cancún, Mérida and Tapachula. Holy Week is the busiest time of year in Antigua Guatemala, where the processions and street carpets draw large crowds, and Maundy Thursday through Holy Saturday are national holidays, so hotel and shuttle prices around Antigua and Lake Atitlán should be read against the Easter date.