Travel Blog
The latest news and notes from the Travel team
Explore, shop and book flights with Google in Russia
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Whether you’re traveling from Moscow to Yekaterinburg, or Saint Petersburg to New York, Google Flights can offer inspiration and help you find the best flights available. Starting today, you can use
Google.ru
or
www.google.ru/flights
to quickly and easily compare and book flights — from your mobile device, tablet or desktop. And you’ll be able to see local content, local currency and search in the Russian language.
Choose from recommended popular destinations you might like to visit — based on your preferences and previous visits — or set your dates and expand the map to instantly see live prices and explore destinations around the world. You can further filter results based on your preferences and personal budget requirements.
For example, if you choose Yekaterinburg and click on the departure date field, you’ll see a calendar with the lowest fares for the route highlighted for each day. You’ll also see a lowest fares graph below the calendar that shows how prices may fluctuate based on the season, holidays or other events. Scrolling through a couple of months you can quickly see when is a great time to fly.
Once you select your departure and return dates, you’ll be presented with a list of ‘Best flights’; which represents the best tradeoff of convenience and price. You’ll also see similar flights displayed on an easy to scan timeline — grouped by airline, price and number of stops.
When you’re ready, simply select your outbound and return flights — and book your flights by clicking on one of the blue partner book buttons.
Our goal is to provide you with fast results as you easily explore where you want to go, figure out the best time to travel, quickly review flight options and book a ticket. We hope you’ll enjoy planning your next domestic or international trip with
Google Flights
!
Posted by Terje Tjostolvsen, Head of Business Development, Travel
Google adds trains to Google Flights in Europe
Monday, October 26, 2015
Every year, billions of people travel across Europe for personal and professional reasons — often choosing high-speed rail as a convenient option. Now
Google Flights
makes it easy to compare the time and cost to ride vs. fly when trains are a logical and good alternative to many flight routes in Europe.
We started by adding train options for routes in Italy and Spain. Today we’re excited to announce a partnership with Deutsche Bahn in Germany to bring their expansive, fast rail service to Google Flights.
This launch lets you use Google Flights to find train options for 56 destinations and nearly 400 routes across Germany and Northern Europe. Popular routes include domestic routes like Frankfurt-Munich and Hamburg-Stuttgart, as well as international routes like Zurich-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Amsterdam.
"The Google Flights partnership specifically helps us reach international travelers. For many German and European routes, trains are an attractive alternative to flights. Deutsche Bahn´s integration into Google Flights is another step in our partnership with Google already providing train routes and itineraries for Google Maps,” said Mathias Hüske, Head of eCommerce at DB Vertrieb GmbH - Deutsche Bahn AG.
Google Flights also makes it easier to sift through long lists of similar trains. In the same way we group
similar flights
, trains are grouped together — with departure times displayed across a one-day timeline.
“On many routes the convenience of a train connection from city center to city center can offset travel times to and from the airport. We’re excited to bring European travelers even more options with expansive trains data from Deutsche Bahn,” said Noam Ben-Haim, Senior Product Manager, Travel.
Whether you’re shopping on a mobile device or desktop, Google Flights makes it easy to scan available trains and flights — to quickly determine which is best for you. Give it a try on your next European trip.
Posted by Daria Yartseva, Software Engineer, Google Flights
Tell us what you think about the Google Travel Blog
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Hello friends, partners and travel enthusiasts. We know it’s been awhile since our last post. The team has been focused on making the next set of features and travel products that will make your traveling life easier — and we’ve been doing our best to get the word out about all this hard work.
Now we want to hear from you. We’re asking you to answer this super short
survey
. Tell us what you like and what you would like to see more of on our Google Travel Blog.
If you don’t already do so, you can also follow us on our Google Travel
Google+ page
and
Twitter
.
Posted by Cheryl Eisele, Product Marketing Manager, Travel
Get away with Google Flights
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
(
Cross-posted on the
Google Official Blog
)
While winds howl, frost bites and snow falls, people dream of getting away from it all. Every year around this time, we see an uptick in searches for spring and summer travel from people who have had it up to here with winter. And in the middle of one of the coldest, snowiest, iciest winters on record in the U.S., you better believe people are gearing up to grab their suntan lotion and their carry-ons, and hop on a plane. Enter
Google Flights
, which makes it easy to plan the trip that’s right for you. Here are a few tips to help you book this year’s dream vacation.
Flexibility is key when finding great deals
There’s a travel myth that you can always find the best deals on Tuesday. But actually, you can find good deals any day of the week—especially if you’re flexible with your travel dates. Though it’s sometimes hard to pull the trigger because you’re afraid the price will drop tomorrow (or next Tuesday, maybe?), our experience shows it’s usually best to book right away.
Regardless of which day you sit down to plan your trip, you can use the
calendar
in Google Flights to scroll through months and see the lowest fare highlighted for each day. If you’re planning even further out, use the lowest fares graph beneath the calendar to see how prices may fluctuate based on the season, holidays or other events. You can also set preferences (such as direct flights only) and our calendar will adjust to show you just those flights and fares that fit the bill. Finally, if you can save more by using a nearby airport or flying on a different day, we’ll show you a tip at the top of your results.
Not sure about your destination? No problem
Sometimes, you know exactly where your destination needs to be—say, when you’re taking a business trip, or headed to a wedding or family reunion. But there are times when all you know is that you want to go somewhere. Maybe you want to go somewhere with a beach, but don’t care if it’s in Greece or the Caribbean. Or you want to visit Southeast Asia, but aren’t sure which countries to visit.
Our research shows
more than half of searchers
don’t know where they’re going to travel when they sit down to plan. With Google Flights, you can search for regions or whole countries, like “
Flights to Europe
” and “
Flights to Mexico
." Or, expand the map to scan the entire world and see accurate prices for all the different cities you can fly to, along with filters for your flight preferences. If you’re in a particularly adventurous—or lazy—mood, select the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on the map and we’ll suggest ideas for where to go based on popular destinations and your past search history.
But… cheaper isn’t always better
We all love a good deal, but when it comes to choosing flights, cheaper doesn’t always win—and no wonder, when sometimes that means two connections instead of none. On Google Flights, the vast majority of people choose one of the
Best flights
—considered to be flights that are the best combination of price and convenience. Try it out next time you’re looking for something that fits your schedule, not just your budget.
So once you’ve warmed your hands on that cup of hot cocoa, put them to work on your keyboard or phone. Google Flights is ready to find the best destinations, dates, fares and flights for you to get away from it all.
Posted by Eric Zimmerman, Product Manager, Google Flights (dreaming of warmth from my Boston ice prison)
Show off your hotel with new photo tools in Google My Business
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Last June we
introduced
you to
Google My Business
— giving you an easy way to improve your hotel's presence on Google and connect with customers, whether they're looking for you on Google Search, Maps or Google+.
Starting today, you can tell us which image you’d like to appear when customers search for your hotel on Google. You can even add photos specifically for food and drink, rooms and common areas. It's easy! Just log in to Google My Business on the web or in the
Android
or
iOS
apps, and visit the Photos section.
If you haven't already done so, visit
google.com/mybusiness
to verify your hotel and get started. For more information, you can read the
full blog post
on the Google and Your Business blog.
Posted by Ashwath Rajan, Product Manager, Travel
Google Flight Search lands in Switzerland to help you find the best destinations and deals
Monday, February 02, 2015
Whether you’re traveling from Geneva to Barcelona, Zurich to Sydney, or you’re not sure where to go,
Flight Search
can offer inspiration and help you find the best flights available. Starting today, you can use Google to quickly and easily compare and book flights — from your mobile device, desktop or tablet. Try searching for [
flüge von zürich nach barcelona
] on
google.ch
, ask Google to show you flights from Geneva to Tenerife, or go directly to
www.google.ch/flights
.
More information and flexible features to help you find the best deals
If you haven’t decided where to travel next, expand the map in Flight Search to scan the entire world and see live prices for all the different cities you can fly. It’s a great way to
explore the world around you
and find somewhere new to travel.
You can easily find the least expensive time to travel if your dates are flexible; just use the
calendar
or the lowest fares graph below that shows you when it’s cheapest to fly.
Scan the
similar flights timeline
to compare available flights — grouped together by airline, price and number of stops. You can also quickly determine which flights are the best tradeoff between price and convenience by looking at those labeled
Best flights
.
Google can also monitor flight prices for you, to make sure you don’t miss a good deal. Check out your list of saved flights within Flight Search to see if the prices are trending up or down, how often they change and by how much. You can also let the Google app on your
Android
or
iOS
keep tabs for you. When the price drops for itineraries you’ve previously searched for on Google, you’ll see a Now card that
notifies you of the airfare change
.
Want help keeping track of travel itinerary details for upcoming or past trips? Try searching for [
My trips
] within Google to see a summary of your flight, hotel, car and restaurant reservations — in one convenient place.
Flight Search
gives you more information faster, so you can make informed decisions about the best flights for you. Give it a try and let Google help you with all your 2015 travel plans.
Posted by Marek Turski, Tech Lead Manager, Travel
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