Google's new set of AI features aims to help you create an entire vacation plan, including finding flight deals and booking dinner reservations, too.
In a Monday blog post, Google is featuring a travel-focused expansion of its Canvas planning tool, which is already capable of compiling information for planning purposes. After inputting a rough idea for a vacation, Canvas can take that and create a suggested itinerary around the ideas you're giving it.
During a demonstration of the feature, I asked a Google representative to use the Canvas feature to build a five-day vacation in Tokyo centered on visiting restaurants that served ramen and pizza. After inputting that request into Google's AI Mode, the Canvas feature activated and proceeded to make a visual day-by-day suggestion of different restaurants that specialize in both, and how to visit them.
Just to make it more interesting, I asked the representative to then ask the AI feature to include the locations of several tourist-friendly gyms -- for the health of it. Canvas then regenerated the plans to add that suggestion accordingly. These travel-related enhancements to Canvas will first launch as a Google Labs feature while it continues development, but plans made through it can be shared with others to view. However, Canvas, as it currently functions, doesn't allow for others to further adjust and refine, so for now, you'll likely still need to use a shared Google Doc when collaborating on travel plans.
The AI-based Flight Deals will let you search for a flight by typing in your criteria. Google
Google's also adding a Flight Deals feature that will research and find flights based on your text prompts. During our demo, we asked for round-trip flights from New York to France for any time in March over a five-day period, and the search proceeded to find a variety of flights that met those criteria.
Google's AI Mode is also adding the ability to find restaurants and book dinner reservations, largely pulling from restaurants that are already integrated into services like Google Maps. During my demo, I asked a Google rep to find casual Taiwanese restaurants in New York City for dinner that night. While the feature did find such a restaurant, it wasn't available to book a reservation. In addition to listing a restaurant that met what I was looking for, the search also offered a higher-end restaurant that included support for booking a reservation.
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Several of these features are ones that Google has long featured in its traditional search products, but are now being slightly reconfigured for access from its AI Mode and Gemini assistant. Other AI assistants, like ChatGPT, have already been capable of creating travel ideas. However, since Google already offers several travel and appointment-booking services, the AI Mode is now organizing these services into results for added convenience.
Google's travel features also face competition from a number of other AI-based travel services, such as the Going app for flight travel, an AI trip planner from Booking.com and even an AI travel planner that creates trips based on how you describe your feelings.