Google wants you to plan your next trip with AI
The AI-with-everything trend continues, with Google very much at the forefront. Latching on to the holiday season and the increase in travel the period sees, the company is pushing its new AI tools as a way of planning your next trip.
The tools that Google is highlighting can all be accessed from Search, and while the company is using the holiday season as a hook, these are not seasonal tools – they can be used at any time for any sort of travel plans. There are various options here, so let’s take a look at what Google has to offer.
While Google’s Flight Deals is not a new thing, the company is now making this artificial intelligence-powered money saving tool available more widely. Originally launched in the US, Canada and India, it has now expanded to more than 200 additional countries and territories around the world – including the UK, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan and Korea.
Google says of the tool:
It’s designed for flexible travelers who want to quickly find affordable destinations and save money on their next trip.
To get started, just describe where, when and how you’d like to travel — like you’re talking to a friend — and Flight Deals will use AI to understand what you’re looking for and show the best bargains available.
Google also wants to help with more than just the task of getting from A to B. It points to Canvas in AI Mode as a way to design your travel plans and develop an itinerary for a trip. The bad news – for a lot of people – is that Travel planning with Canvas is available on desktop in the U.S. for those opted into the AI Mode experiment in Labs. If it is available to you, Google says:
Just tell AI Mode what type of trip you’re planning and the recommendations you’re looking for, then select the option to “Create Canvas.”
Right away, you’ll get a plan in the Canvas side panel that brings together real-time Search data for flights and hotels, details from Google Maps like photos and reviews and relevant information from sites across the web. You’ll find suggestions that fit your criteria, like hotel comparisons based on pricing and amenities or ideas for restaurants and activities optimized by travel time from where you’re staying.
To refine the plan and make it your own, you can ask follow-up questions and get help with tradeoffs, like choosing a hotel that’s closer to brunch but a bit further from hiking trails. If you want to take a break, you can always jump back in and come back to the plan through your AI Mode history, via the menu on the top-left.
Google has also teamed up with a number of other companies to make it easier to book restaurants, event tickets and more for while you are on your trip. This is thanks to the company’s expansion of AI Mode’s agentic capabilities to more people. Google says:
Describe what you’re looking for with all your needs and preferences and AI Mode will search across multiple reservation platforms and websites to find real-time availability for options that meet your criteria.
Then, AI Mode will show you a curated list to choose from, with direct links so you can finalize your booking through partners like OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, Booksy, Fresha and Vagaro.
Again, this is something that is something that has a slightly limited audience. Agentic booking for event tickets and local appointments is available to all U.S. Labs users, while agentic booking for restaurants is rolling out this week on AI Mode in the U.S. without the need to opt in to Labs.