Google’s AI wants to be your new travel agent

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Google is doubling down on turning Search into your personal travel sidekick, the kind that finds cheap flights, plans your itinerary, and maybe knows a little too much about brunch spots. 

This week, the company announced a globe-spanning expansion of its AI-powered travel tools, including smarter flight searches, a souped-up trip-planning Canvas mode, and wider access to its reservation-booking AI assistant.

One of the biggest upgrades: Flight Deals, Google’s AI-powered bargain hunter, is escaping its initial test markets (the US, Canada, and India) and going fully global. 

Now rolling out to 200+ countries, from the UK to Japan to Brazil, the tool supports more than 60 languages and works like a very well-traveled genie. 

You simply tell it where, when, and how you want to travel, and it conjures up budget-friendly options instantly. No more 47-tab flight-search spirals.

Next up is Canvas, now available in Google’s AI Mode as a full-fledged travel-planning assistant. Originally built as a study-helper side panel, Canvas just got promoted to digital travel agent. 

Tell Google what kind of trip you’re dreaming of: beach escape, snack-fueled city crawl, “find me a hotel absolutely nowhere near children,” and choose “Create with Canvas.” 

Google will assemble a real-time itinerary using Search data, Maps photos and reviews, hotel comparisons, restaurant recommendations, and activity ideas fine-tuned to your vibe.

Better yet, Canvas can help with those annoying travel tradeoffs: Is the hotel near the brunch spot worth being slightly farther from the hiking trail? 

Should you prioritize price, location, or the promise of excellent water pressure? The AI will talk it out with you.

For now, Canvas trip planning is available on desktop in the US for users opted into Google’s Labs AI Mode experiment.

And Google’s not done. It’s also expanding its agentic booking features, the ones that handle reservations for restaurants, events, and wellness appointments. 

Previously limited to Labs testers, these are now available to all US users. 

You give your dining preferences. AI Mode scours reservation platforms. You get curated options without the frantic OpenTable shuffle.

Google says flights and hotel bookings will eventually be handled directly inside AI Mode, too.