Travel Blog
The latest news and notes from the Travel team
Finding the perfect hotel and flight for your trip
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
With summer in full swing, and the holiday travel season right around the corner, it’s time to plan those last-minute vacations and start thinking about where you’ll be spending your holidays this year. Today we’re announcing several updates to
Google Flights
and hotel search on Google to make it easier to find the right flight or the right hotel, at the right price, for your next trip.
Track airfare changes with Google Flights
Want to stay up to date on changing flight fares without having to continually check prices? You can now track fare changes for a date and route combination, or track specific flights in Google Flights, by simply selecting to track prices after you’ve searched for a flight. When prices either increase or decrease significantly, you’ll be notified by email and Google Now cards. This is rolling out over the course of the next few weeks in all 26 countries where Google Flights is available.
Google Flights: tracked flights on mobile and email notification of price change
Find the right hotel at the right price with Google
When it comes to booking a hotel, making the best decision can be stressful. We’re now making it easier for you to find the right hotel at the right price.
Everyone loves a good deal. When searching on Google for “hotels in [location]”, you may now see a "Deal" label indicating that a hotel’s price is lower than usual compared to historical pricing, or if there are discounts to the normal rate for those dates. These deals are automatically identified by our algorithms when we see a significant reduction in price. This will be rolling out globally over the next few months.
You can now filter results according to your preferences, like “Price” or “Top rated”, with one tap on your phone. You can even combine multiple criteria like “Top-rated pet-friendly hotels in San Francisco under $200” when searching for the perfect hotel. This is now available in the US and will roll out globally later this year.
Smart filters and deals in hotel search on Google
If there is an opportunity to save money or find better availability by moving your dates slightly, we may show you Tips. For example, you may see a Tip like, “Save $105 if you stay Wed, Jul 13 - Fri, Jul 15”. If the new dates work for you, simply tap to update your search and take advantage of the savings. We’ll be rolling Tips out globally over the coming months.
We hope these updates make planning your next trip easier and stress-free!
Posted by Richard Holden, VP of Product Management, Travel
Google Flights lands in Malaysia
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Whether you’re traveling from Penang to Perth or Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, Google Flights can offer inspiration and help you find the best flights available. Starting today, you can search
google.com.my
or
www.google.com.my/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 and pricing in Ringgit.
Still trying to figure out where you’d like to visit and the best time to go? Try using our new flexible destination search feature that lets you explore based on dates, destinations and interests like: beaches, adventure travel, honeymoons and food.
Want to get away for summer holiday? Choose “1 week”, “June” and ”Beaches” to see popular destinations — with the best time to visit those destinations and the lowest price available to get there. Scroll through the suggestions and click on one of the tiles that interests you. You’ll see a snapshot of the least expensive flight and hotel options available (with price, stops and duration for flights — and 5, 4 and 3 star ratings noted for hotels).
Another fun and easy way to explore your options is to set your interest and expand the map by selecting “Explore destinations”. You’ll instantly see live prices for destinations that meet your interest category around the world. You can further filter results based on your preferences and personal budget requirements.
Perth sounds nice — and it looks like you can get there on a nonstop flight in under 6 hours.
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.
Google Flights can also help you save time when you know where you want to go and when. Say you’re commuting on a popular route — like Kuala Lumpur to Singapore — that has multiple, similarly priced, nonstop flights daily. Enter your origin, destination and dates and we’ll display all the similar flights available on an easy to scan timeline. They’re grouped by airline, price and number of stops which makes it easy for you to consider your options and book the one that best meets your needs.
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 Eugenie Lam, Head of Business Development, Travel
New ways to plan your vacation while on the go
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
(Cross-posted from the
Official Google Blog
)
With spring around the corner, it’s time to look forward to sunnier skies—and summer getaways. These days, mobile phones make it easier than ever for you to sneak in vacation dreaming and planning here and there—in line at the coffee shop, waiting at the doctor’s office, or on your way to meet a friend.
In fact, last year, according to our internal data for google.com, we saw a whopping 50% increase in travel-related questions on mobile phones. But even as that number grows, it can be hard to get all the right information in one place on a small screen. There are a dizzying number of questions to answer when planning a trip: What are the best places to visit? What time of year is good to go? What kind of prices can I expect?
Today we’re introducing something to make all this easier: Destinations on Google, which helps you discover and plan your next vacation, right from Google Search on your phone.
Here’s how it works:
Search with Google on your mobile phone for the continent, country, or state you’d like to travel to and add the word “destination” to see an easy-to-browse collection of options. Destinations integrates a deep understanding of all the places in the world with
Google Flights
and
Hotel search
, so you can see available flight and hotel prices instantly. So instead of jumping between a dozen links or tabs to get the information you need, you can sit back and scroll—and leave the heavy lifting to us.
To find a vacation that’s just your style, search for a destination and something you’d like to do there, like “spain surfing,” “new zealand hiking,” or “colorado skiing.” We’ll suggest spots that fit with your hobbies and interests.
Say you’re planning to take some time off in June or July, but you haven’t decided exactly when to go. The “Flexible Dates” filter lets you refine your results by month, so you can see when fares and rates are lowest within the time range you want, across multiple destinations.
Want to avoid crowds or bad weather? Select any destination and tap the “Explore” tab to see what the weather is like year-round and when your destination is most popular, based on historic visits from other travelers.
Once you've selected a destination, tap "Plan a trip" to see rates for hotels and flights. We show you highs and lows for the next six months, so you can find the right price tag for you. And as you slide left or right, the results instantly update with real-time fares and rates, pulling from the trillions of flight itineraries and hotels we price every day on
Google Flights
and
Hotel search
. You can also tap the pencil icon to customize results further with flight and hotel preferences, including number of stops, hotel class, and number of travelers.
Whether you’ve got five days or 12, don’t fret about figuring out where to go first or which spots you can’t miss. Simply search for “Spain travel,” and click the blue arrow icon to browse the most frequently traveled itineraries. The suggested itineraries are based on historic visits by other travelers to those places, so you can use the wisdom of the crowd and save time researching.
Let Destinations on Google make it smooth sailing to your next vacation. Bon voyage!
Posted by Radhika Malpani, Engineering Director, Travel
Explore, compare and book flights with Google in Portugal
Friday, February 26, 2016
Whether you’re traveling from Lisbon to Barcelona or Porto to Ponta Delgada, Google Flights can offer inspiration and help you find the best flights available. Starting today, you can use
Google.pt
or
www.google.pt/flights
to quickly explore, compare and book flights — from your mobile device, tablet or desktop. And you’ll be able to search in Portuguese, see local content, and all prices will default to Euros.
If you’re still trying to figure out where you’d like to visit and the best time to go — try using our new flexible destination search feature that lets you explore based on dates, destinations and interests like: beaches, adventure travel, honeymoons and winter sports.
Want to escape the wet, winter weather and head some place warm? Choose “1 week”, “March” and “Islands” to see popular destinations — with the best time to visit those destinations and the lowest price available to get there. Scroll through the suggestions and click on one of the tiles that interests you — you’ll see a snapshot of the least expensive flight and hotel options available (with price, stops and duration for flights — and 5, 4 and 3 star ratings noted for hotels).
Another fun and easy way to explore your options is to set your interest and expand the map by selecting “Explore destinations”. You’ll instantly see live prices for destinations that meet your interest category around the world. You can further filter results based on your preferences and personal budget requirements.
Malaga sounds nice — and it looks like you can get there on a nonstop flight in about 2 hours.
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. Google Flights can also help you save time when you know where you want to go and when.
Let’s say you’re commuting on a popular route — like Lisbon to Porto — that has multiple, similarly priced, nonstop flights daily. Enter your origin, destination and dates and we’ll display all the similar flights available on an easy to scan timeline. They’re grouped by airline, price and number of stops which makes it easy for you to consider your options and book the one that best meets your needs.
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 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 Nia Stoykova, Head of Business Development, Travel
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