Google Dives Deeper Into Travel Commerce With Price-Tracking

Google is helping travelers using Google services find better rates on trips, flights and hotels by expanding its booking features.

These new features will now tell users the best time to buy an airline ticket or to determine when room rates are higher, among other things.

“A recent study we did indicated that travelers are most concerned about finding the best price for their vacations – more than with any other discretionary purchase,” Google wrote in a blog post.

While the price-tracking features are similar to those that some other travel sites, like KAYAK and Hopper, already offer, Google is making them more broadly accessible to everyone searching for travel information on the web.

Google Flights will use machine learning and statistical analysis of historical flights data to display tips under your search results. After entering a destination, you can receive tips like “prices won’t drop further” or “prices are less than normal” to help you figure out if you should book now or wait for a better price.

Google’s hotel search results will offer the same kind of information, including alerting users when room rates are higher than normal, or if the area is busier than usual due to a holiday, music festival or even a business conference. Users can also opt to receive email alerts about price fluctuations, starting on desktop early next year.

And a trip isn’t complete without activities. With that in mind, Google is also adding information about discounted tickets and tours in its Google Trips mobile application for iOS and Android.

As TechCrunch pointed out, the Google Trips app was launched just over a year ago as a personalized travel planner. The new ticket and tour deals will appear in the city you’re visiting within the app, and will be launched worldwide in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese.