Google’s New AI in Search Promises to Turn Holiday Dreams Into Reality

Google’s New AI in Search Promises to Turn Holiday Dreams Into Reality

A Smarter Way to Travel — All Inside Search Google has rolled out a major upgrade to its AI-powered Search — and this
Read more
Comments off

A Smarter Way to Travel — All Inside Search

Google has rolled out a major upgrade to its AI-powered Search — and this time, it’s changing how we plan and book trips. With recent updates, Google’s “AI Mode” now lets you build full travel itineraries, hunt down flight deals, and even make reservations for restaurants and events — all without leaving the search screen.

What’s New for Travelers

  1. Plan Your Trip with “Canvas”

The new Canvas tool — part of AI Mode — acts like a digital travel planner. On desktop (currently in the U.S. for users opted into Labs), you can describe the kind of trip you want: weekend getaway, long holiday or something in between. Once you hit “Create with Canvas,” the side-panel fills up with a complete plan: flights, hotels, hotel comparisons, nearby restaurants, activities, and more — all powered by real-time data from flights, maps, and reviews. You can refine the plan interactively by asking follow-up questions (for example, “Find me a hotel closer to downtown but near good food”).

  1. Global “Flight Deals” — Affordable Flights, Faster

The AI-powered Flight Deals tool — which launched earlier in select countries — is now expanding to over 200 countries and territories, supporting more than 60 languages. Instead of plugging in rigid search dates, you can describe your trip naturally, like “affordable beach vacation in June,” and Flight Deals will show you the best matches. This makes finding cheap flights easier, especially for flexible travellers.

  1. Book Restaurants, Events, Appointments — Automatically

Perhaps the most powerful update: AI Mode now supports agentic booking. Once you tell the AI what you’re looking for — say, a dinner for two next Friday evening, or tickets to a concert — the system searches across reservation and ticketing platforms, finds real-time availability, and displays a curated list with direct booking links. Initially, this works for restaurants, events, wellness appointments, and other local services.

In the future, Google is working with major travel partners — including hotel chains and booking platforms — to enable direct hotel and flight bookings through AI Mode as well.

Why This Matters

  • All-in-one convenience: Instead of hopping between multiple websites — flights, hotels, reviews, maps — travelers can do everything from planning to booking in one place. 
  • Time & effort saved: What used to take hours of research, comparing, and booking can now be condensed into a few natural-language queries. 
  • Better for spontaneous travellers: If you just know you’re “thinking of a quick getaway somewhere cheap and fun,” AI Mode can suggest options without rigid planning or dates. 
  • A shift for the travel industry: By embedding planning and bookings directly into Search, Google may reduce traffic to independent travel and booking sites — reshaping how people use the internet for travel.

What to Watch Out For

  • Availability is limited (for now): Canvas trip-planning is only on desktop and for U.S. users opted into the experiment. Agentic booking currently supports restaurants, events, and appointments — not yet flights or hotels. 
  • Still evolving: Google says it’s working with travel industry partners to bring full booking capabilities (hotels, flights) to AI Mode — but no firm release date yet. 
  • Privacy & control: As with all AI-powered tools, users will need to stay aware of what data they share and how much control they retain.

Overall, Google’s latest update transforms Search — from just answering questions, to becoming a travel assistant that can plan and partially book your next holiday. If you’ve ever spent hours flipping between tabs, comparing hotels, flights, reviews — this just might be the easiest way to travel plan yet.