Google’s New Mobile Updates Make It Even Easier To Find Travel Deals

Google Flights and Google’s hotel search feature are already useful tools for helping you find and book travel, but this week, they announced some mobile updates that will make it even easier to find great deals.

They made the announcement at a press event, but Jonathan Alferness, vice president of product management at Google, also ran down some of the updates in a recent blog post. They’re aimed at shopping in general, but many of the updates are specific to travel. Here are a few highlights:

• Hotel smart filters: You’ll now be able to filter hotel search results based on specific needs. Alferness wrote: “We’ll make it easy to search for exactly what people want, like ‘Pet-friendly hotels in San Francisco under $200’ to find the perfect hotel for them.” Currently, this feature is available in the US and they plan to roll it out globally later this year.
• Hotel deals: If a hotel rate is lower than usual or if there are discounts available for your specific travel date, Google will now include a “Deal” label on the search result.
• Hotel tips: If you can save money travelling on a different day, you might get a “Tip” that tells you how much you can save with a little flexibility.
• Better flight price tracking: If you save a Google Flight and it drops or increases significantly in price, you’ll now get an email notifying you of the change.

There are a handful of other updates, too, so be sure to check them out at the link below.

Making Travel and Shopping Easier for the Seasons Ahead [Google Blog]