When it comes to the apps that will help you plan and book a vacation, there are a lot of choices, so much so that it may be frustrating for you to choose the right one. However, it now looks like Google has taken the matter into its own hands.
Google launched “Destinations” on Wednesday to provide all the travel information a person might want, neatly curated, organized and bundled with booking options.
The whole feature is based on keywords, there is no need for a separate application. When a person uses Google search on Android or iOS, “X destinations” will return a grid of destinations for a state, country or continent, while “X vacation” or “X travel” returns a travel guide for a city, state or country.
The company has said that they are looking to introduce this feature on the device that is used the most, your smartphone. But travelers are already using their phones for planning, with the majority being used and more and more for booking, so perhaps what Google is really after is keeping all travel search and planning to itself.
To get a better idea of what this feature is offering, compare the results for a keyword like “India Destinations” in the Destination to the regular search results.
You will see that in the regular search as well, there is no lack of information, quite the opposite actually, however, the whole planning is to be done manually by the user. In the Destinations app, on the other hand, the system asks you to do the brunt of the work.
“Google sorts through billions of flight and hotel options so you don’t have to,” the company said about Destinations. “See average flights and hotel prices at a glance across many cities; tap into a destination and get the best options for your needs and budget.“.