Google Debuts Travel Bookings Feature

Google last week highlighted its travel insights tool, which enables users to see flight price trends for routes or locate cities where there are hotel deals.

In a blog post last week, Google said the travel insights tool is designed to provide people with inspiration as to where to go on vacation. It provides details on trending destinations for spring break in the U.S. Google found four out of five trending cities for this year’s spring break are all in Florida.

Some of the new features Google rolled out in Google Flights and Hotels include the ability to search for destinations via budget. Google enables users to explore the world map on Google Flights to see where you can fly on the cheap. If you live in, say, San Francisco and want to spend under $150 on flight, you search by setting a price limit and seeing only the destinations that will be in your price range to fly.

For users who have decided on where they want to travel and are starting to search for flights, Google will provide price insight for most trips, which was previously only available for holiday dates. It shows whether the price of the flight is high, typical or cheap compared to what the airline typically charges. Google will also alert you if the price won’t decline more or if it will increase soon.

Outside of flights, Google is also making it easier for people to find hotels that fit their needs. In the blog post, Google said users can use its new “Deals” filter, which employs machine learning to identify hotels that offer rates that are much lower than the usual price for the hotel or similar hotels close by. There are also expanded pages for photos and reviews curated with machine learning to help consumers make the right hotel choice.  Google Maps can also help users pick a hotel by showing if the hotel is convenient to where you are visiting.