Google’s new all-encompassing Google Travel features make you your own travel agent

By Melissa Locker

Tell the boss that you’re escaping the relentless rain and taking all your vacation days, because Google is making it easier than ever to book a vacation. The company announced today that Google Maps, Trips, Hotels, Flights, and Search will all live in one place, which means you can figure out where you’re going, where you’re staying, and how you’re going to get there.

As you may recall, last year the search giant souped up its flight and hotel search options. Then, in March of this year, it released a new flight and hotel search feature, elbowing its way to the front of the travel pack. Now the company is throwing its weight around even more. Google Trips will organize your searches and reservations at google.com/travel, to make it easier to find information relevant to your trip at Google Search and Google Maps, whether you’re searching on mobile or planning your trip on your office desktop as you pretend to look busy.

To start planning your vacation, simply sign into your Google account, head to google.com/travel, and start searching for hotels, comparing flights, and looking up piña colada bars, theme parks, third-wave coffee shops or whatever it is you want to do on your vacation. The “My Trips” page on your Google account will help you keep it all organized, even showing links to relevant articles about the area, including options for what to do, what to see, events happening on your travel dates, popular restaurants in the area, and even the weather forecast.

There’s also an interactive timeline for travelers showing you where you’re supposed to be on which date. It will even roll in restaurant reservations made on OpenTable or Resy, as long as they’re linked to your Gmail. Easy, right? If you want to turn “My Trips” into a vacation vision board or wish list, you can plan ahead and store links and hotels for future dream vacations, too.

Not all the features are available yet, but Google plans to roll out the unified Trips page in Google Maps in the next few months. All you have to do now is pick a destination.

 
 

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