Google is making it easier to book the trip of your dreams, under budget. The company has recently launched a mobile-only search tool called Destinations on Google. Think of it as a digitized travel agent, providing fast, comprehensive, and intuitive travel suggestions. Google’s new travel tool will help you narrow down where to travel, help you build a travel itinerary, and set parameters on the cost to keep your trip on budget. Let’s take a look at how it works.
1) Launch Google Trip Planner
Next time you open Google on your phone browser, try a search term such as “Europe Destinations.” Using the word destinations is what will pull up the new feature when you hit search. You will be shown a series of information cards on various cities, presented in order of popularity, which is determined by search volume and location data.
On each of the information cards, you will find the cheapest week of the year to travel, the average price for flights from your current location, and the average cost of a three-star hotel. These cards essentially provide you with the best way to get a sense of what it will cost to go anywhere in the world.
2) Find Your Dream Trip
Right above the destination cards, you will find a small menu that allows you to filter your search by desired travel dates, budget, or even interests. For example, a filter for architecture will show you places like Amsterdam and Madrid, while a filter for hiking will present places like Majorca and Mount Etna. Click a specific month of the year and the cards will show you the most affordable week to travel within your time frame.
3) Explore
After you have decided on a destination, you have the ability to explore the destination and its local highlights. The most useful feature in explore mode is probably the recommended itineraries, based on where travelers actually go and in what order. Google is able to create these itineraries by looking at anonymized location data and popular search combinations.
4) Plan A Trip
After you have settled on a destination and explored what you would like to do, it is now time for you to plan and book the trip, which means selecting your dates, flights, and hotel. Google’s algorithm allows you to calculate your total trip cost, adjusting the dollar amount instantly as you toggle through calendar options. You can adjust flight and hotel options with ease, based on your specific preferences.
The Bottom Line
Destinations on Google is a great way to figure out where you should go on your next trip. With the ability to search through destinations based on real-time pricing data, input your budget parameters, and filter by personal interests, this new tool is truly an unparalleled source for trip planning. Studies have shown that travelers visit upwards of 38 sites when planning a trip. Destinations on Google should help to drastically cut that number down. Whether people will be willing to book a trip by using just one site on their phone remains to be seen. Nonetheless, this new tool will certainly help anyone plan their next adventure much easier.