Google Introduces New Vacation Planning Tools to Gemini, Maps, and Search

Google is launching a number of new tools in Search, Maps, and Gemini, some of which are AI-powered, to assist users in organizing their summer getaways. The new features come at a time when people are using ChatGPT from OpenAI and other similar programs to help them plan their travels.

Google Is Introducing New Features

Google is rolling out new AI and non-AI capabilities that will streamline and simplify travel planning as school and college summer breaks draw near.

Google Search’s AI Overviews will now display travel suggestions for both countries and regions. The AI-powered snapshot tool, for example, will display user reviews and photographs when users search for “create an itinerary for Costa Rica with a focus on nature.” Additionally, an expanding map has been included to assist users in planning their routes. After gathering sufficient data, users can export the suggestions using Gmail or Docs. In Maps, it can also be stored as a custom list.

Currently, this feature is accessible on desktop and mobile devices in the United States in English. Users are not required to register on Search Labs because it is not an experimental feature.

Another upgrade for Google Maps will let users search for locations using screenshots taken with their device. According to the Rreport, when people are looking for places to visit, they take several screenshots. Now that you can easily add these screenshots to Maps, Gemini will recognize the locations in the screenshot and display them on the map. Users can then map out an itinerary or visit other nearby locations. Only the English language is supported at this time, and it is being rolled out to iOS users in the US. It will be available soon for Android users.

Additionally, Google will soon offer consumers the same alerts for price reductions on hotels as it has for flights for a considerable amount of time. The ability to monitor hotel rates for selected dates and locations is now available to users. For your hotel search, you can choose parameters like beach access or star ratings for a certain location. Google is going to send you an email if prices drop. This is being rolled out on desktop and mobile browsers worldwide.

Lastly, several new languages will be added to Google Lens and Circle to Search’s AI Overviews function. In the nations where the AI capability is accessible, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish will soon be supported in addition to English.