(Cross-posted on the Google and Your Business Blog)

Today we are announcing Google My Business, a single place for hoteliers and other local businesses to quickly and easily update their business information and add beautiful photos that are displayed to their customers -- whether they’re looking for you on Google Search, Maps, Google+ or ...Read More

(Cross-posted on the Google and Your Business Blog)

Today we are announcing Google My Business, a single place for hoteliers and other local businesses to quickly and easily update their business information and add beautiful photos that are displayed to their customers -- whether they’re looking for you on Google Search, Maps, Google+ or Google Hotel Finder.

To see how easy it is to improve your hotel’s presence on Google and connect with customers, read the full blog post on the Google and Your Business blog or visit google.com/mybusiness to verify your hotel and get started.

Posted by Tom Mulders, Sr. Program Manager, Travel

Just over a year ago, we launched an experimental feature called explore flights to give you a unique, price-focused way of exploring different destinations within a region. It's still available, but over the next few days we’ll be rolling out some of the most popular functionality right into ...Read More

Just over a year ago, we launched an experimental feature called explore flights to give you a unique, price-focused way of exploring different destinations within a region. It's still available, but over the next few days we’ll be rolling out some of the most popular functionality right into Flight Search -- plus a few other surprises.

So, whether you know where you want to go or want to throw caution to the wind and visit some place completely new, we've got some fun, new ways to help you explore the world around you! See it in action.

If you’re looking for some inspiration, you can click on the map to enter a full-screen exploring experience. You can pan the entire world and see all of the different cities you can fly to, see photos of the top attractions for each city and see how the price changes based on holidays, day of the week or time of year.

If you’re feeling really adventurous, try the “I’m Feeling Lucky” feature. It’s kind of like a travel slot machine. Simply select the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button from within the expanded map and we’ll give you ideas of where to go. You can add price or time limits and press the button as many times as you want -- we’ll keep suggesting destinations you might like.

Additionally, whenever you type a region (e.g. “South America”) as your destination in Flight Search you’ll see cards for the most popular destinations within that region, and destinations personalized for you based on your past searches. We’ll also provide a map so you can see where these places are located -- as well as the lowest fare and duration to fly to each place.

As you start to plan your next vacation, try google.com/flights for yourself. We hope it makes your destination selection process more fun and informative.

Posted by Gus Prevas, Software Engineer, Travel Team