Google is continuing to expand in the OTA space by consolidating its Google Flights, Hotels and Trips products into a single online travel booking portal. Building on connections the company launched between its smartphone apps last year, the unified portal is now available on desktop at google.com/travel.
The move also builds on a feature the company launched last year, in which Google will add customers’ hotel and flight reservations to an itinerary timeline while they are signed into their Google account, as long as they received a confirmation via Gmail. In the new portal, customers are able to make edits directly to their trip timeline. The company also says that it’s planning to add the ability to manually input new reservations in “a few weeks.”
The portal also includes weather information, as well as the ability to save recent travel searches, places and flights. Google is also planning to add the capability to viewed things to do and saved and viewed hotels to trips. The website will also include travel articles related to the destination customers are researching.
In conjunction with the new travel planning portal, Google is also adding new features to Google Maps to allow customers to get more information after they have arrived at their destination. Last year, the company added tools aimed at helping customers find good places to see and things to do when using Google Maps to explore a new place; now, Google Maps will be able to point out popular neighborhoods and what they’re known for.
This article originally appeared on www.travelagentcentral.com.
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