Destinations on Google Search on mobile, will assist you with your trip planning

Google Search has released a new feature called Destinations, which uses its massive database pertaining to different location and lets you plan your trips in advance. It is basically includes a mashup of Google’s popular services such as Google Flights and Hotel Search. This feature is only available on mobile devices as of now. All you have to do is enter your area of interest in the Search box followed by the term ‘destination’ or ‘vacation’, and Google will throw up a list of itineraries along with giving flight rates and hotel accommodation rates. You can add more granularity by filtering the search results based on your interest areas, your budget, your tentative dates of flying, and so on. “Say you’re planning to take some time off in June or July, but you haven’t decided exactly when to go. The “Flexible Dates” filter lets you refine your results by month, so you can see when fares and rates are lowest within the time range you want, across multiple destinations,” according to Google blog.

Google will then throw up search results of flight rates, and hotel availability along with local attractions to check out. This may sound quite similar to the Google Now cards that we get when we reach a new location. But the differentiating aspect with Destinations is that it also gives you a list of itineraries along with map locations. For instance, things such as walking tours or theme based tours are part of the itineraries along with map locations. This is a great way have a basic idea of what to do in a new location. For instance, if you look up Barcelona, you get the itineraries such as Gothic Quarter highlights, Barcelona for Art lovers and so on. If you select Vienna, you get a 48 Hours in Vienna type itinerary and so on. Basically, something that you would originally search for on a TripAdvisor, you are getting right within your Google Search result.  This seems like a good feature to have. Although the Filters feature is yet to roll out in India, which will give you the option to choose a timeline and budget of your travel plans.