Google rolls out new travel planning tools ⋆

Google rolls out new travel planning tools

Summer break will be here before you know it, so this is the time to start thinking about your next vacation. Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we travel, making trip-planning smarter, more intuitive, and highly personalized. Google, a leader in AI innovation, continues to enhance the travel experience by integrating AI into its most-used tools—Search, Maps, Lens, and Gemini. From generating custom itineraries to tracking hotel prices and even turning screenshots into interactive travel plans, Google’s AI-powered features help simplify every stage of your journey. Whether you’re searching for inspiration or navigating a new city, these latest updates – Google travel planning tools—will make planning your next vacation easier than ever.

Check out these updates for Search, Maps, Lens and Gemini that’ll help you plan and enjoy the perfect trip.

1. Get trip ideas with AI Overviews in Search

Whether you have a destination in mind or you’re still exploring your options, AI Overviews in Search can help you visualize your trip with a day-by-day itinerary for things to do and restaurants to enjoy. And starting this week, you can get trip ideas not just for cities like New York or Rome but also for distinct regions or entire countries. Just search for something like “create an itinerary for Costa Rica with a focus on nature” to get started.

An animation shows a user asking Google to create an itinerary for Costa Rica with a focus on nature. The search results show an AI overview with daily recommendations for sightseeing & dining, plus links to continue exploring on the web.

From there, you can explore photos and reviews contributed by other users and see locations on an expandable map. And when you’re ready, you can tap “Export” to share the recommendations through Docs or Gmail or save them as a custom list in Google Maps for access on the go.

Planning trips with AI Overviews is available for English language queries in the U.S. on mobile and desktop — no Search Labs enrollment is required.

2. Save money with hotel price tracking

If you already use Google Flights to get alerts on price drops, now you can do the same for hotels. If you’re browsing on google.com/hotels, you’ll see a new option to track prices for your chosen dates and destination.

An animation showing Google’s hotel search tool on google.com/hotels, with results for 5-star hotels in Chicago. The user taps on the option to track hotel prices, and a pop-up indicates that they’ll receive email updates if prices change.

Simply tap the price-tracking toggle below the search filters, and you’ll get an email if prices go down substantially for any of the hotels listed in the results. Our systems will account for the filters you’ve selected, like star rating or beach access, as well as the specific area you’re viewing on the map.

Hotel price tracking is launching globally this week on mobile and desktop browsers.

3. Turn your screenshots into plans with Google Maps

When you’re planning a getaway, you’re likely jotting down places you want to visit in a notes app or doing research via social media, news articles, and travel blogs to find the best spots to visit—and you’re probably grabbing plenty of screenshots in the process! But we all know how easy it is for those photos to be forgotten in your camera roll.

An animation shows that Google Maps will save places to a list with the help of Gemini. The user takes a screenshot and then selects which ones they want to add to their “Screenshots” list.

Now, keeping track of these places is as easy as opening Maps. If you choose to turn on the new “screenshot” list, Gemini capabilities in Maps automatically identify places mentioned in your screenshots so you can review and save the ones you want to a helpful list. Places you save will show up on the map, and you can easily share the list with your travel buddies. This feature starts rolling out this week in the U.S. in English on iOS and is coming soon to Android.

4. Ask Gemini for travel inspiration

Often, the hardest part of trip-planning is getting started. Do you want a tropical vacation? OR should you visit a big new city? Turn to Gemini, your personal AI assistant, to get help with brainstorming and finding relevant information for your travel needs. You could ask something like “find me the cheapest flights to Europe and YouTube videos on what to do on a budget in each of those places.”

You can also try Gemini’s Gems feature — a tool that lets you customize Gemini to create your own personal AI expert — to set up your very own trip planner Gem. Now you have a travel guide at your fingertips to help you pick a destination, find restaurants in a new city, or even suggest what to pack.

A video shows a user in Gemini creating a trip planner Gem with custom instructions to help with travel advice.

Results are for illustrative purposes and may vary. Check responses for accuracy. Internet and a browser for setup are required. Available in select languages and to users 18+.

Gems are also now available for everyone at no cost; go to the “Gems manager” on desktop to create a new Gem. Pro tip: Use the magic wand icon below the instructions text box so that Gemini can help draft your instructions; just start with a quick sentence, and Gemini can take it from there.

5. Use Lens as your AI-powered tour guide

When you’re exploring somewhere new, Lens in the Google app (Android and iOS) makes it easy to learn more about your surroundings. Perhaps you’re visiting Florence and want to know the story behind the mysterious wooden windows you’ve been seeing everywhere.

An animation shows a user pointing their camera at a wooden window, using Google Lens, while asking the question “What are these used for”. The AI Overview response explains that this is a wine window, historically used to sell wine directly to customers in Florence, Italy.

Just point your camera and ask something like “what are these used for?” You’ll get an AI Overview with information and insights, plus links to helpful resources on the web.

AI Overviews in Lens (and Circle to Search) are already available for English queries and are expanding soon to Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, in most countries where AI Overviews are available.

An animation shows a user pointing their camera at a bar menu written in Japanese. Google Lens automatically translates the text from Japanese to English.

Speaking of languages, Lens is also a great companion for translating everything from street signs to menus to flyers and more. Just point your camera, tap the translate filter and watch the words transform right before your eyes.

Final thoughts about Google travel planning tools

As AI continues to reshape the travel industry, Google travel planning tools set a high standard for seamless, data-driven trip organization. Competitors like Expedia, Kayak, and Skyscanner also leverage AI for dynamic pricing, personalized recommendations, and itinerary management, but Google’s deep integration across Search, Maps, and Lens provides a uniquely interconnected experience.

According to Phocuswright, AI-driven travel assistants are becoming mainstream, with travelers increasingly expecting instant, contextual recommendations. The rise of generative AI in platforms like Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot suggests that trip planning will shift further toward automation, with real-time personalization and predictive booking insights becoming the norm.

Looking ahead, AI will likely play an even larger role in sustainable travel, helping users optimize routes for lower emissions and discover eco-friendly accommodations. As competition grows, the key differentiator will be how well platforms integrate AI across multiple travel touchpoints—something Google is already leading the way on.

Travel Tech