Google Destinations lets you plan a trip on your phone, no app required
There are a ridiculous number of apps and websites that will help you plan and book a vacation. There are so many, in fact, that choosing which to use can be overwhelming. Search behemoth Google would like to change that.
Google launched "Destinations" on Wednesday to provide all the travel information a person might want, neatly curated, organized and bundled with booking options.
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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 says the goal is to put travel search and planning "on the device you use most" — also known as your smartphone. But travelers are already using their phones for planning (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 Destinations is offering, compare it to a regular Google search for "Croatia destinations."
There is no lack of information on that page — quite the opposite — but the work of planning is still very much on the traveler. Destinations, meanwhile, wants to do the heavy lifting.
"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."
The service includes information on peak tourist times (which might be more valuable as advice for when not to go), as well as average temperatures and precipitation during different times of the year.
For each destination, Google will offer itinerary ideas, like a seven-day road trip through Spain from Sevilla to Barcelona.
And there is also activity information: "Destinations lets you tailor your searches to hobbies, such as hiking, surfing, or architecture," according to Google, "and each region has a specialized set of interests, so you’ll see scuba diving for Asia, for example, but not for Europe."
(Note to Google: There is scuba diving in Europe.)
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