Remember Google Trips, that new travel-centric app that leaked back in April?
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If your destination is not one of the top 200 most-popular, Google Trips will not offer full or part-day itineraries. And I wish the app pulled in information from both my corporate and personal Google accounts – I often have relevant travel documents in both places. In return, they gain exclusive access to try out new Google products and features, such as Google Trips.
Still, users won’t be able to book activities or restaurants from within the app.
Google Trips is a new app for Android and iPhone that’s meant to be your travel companion.
It’s basically a giant travel guide and itinerary maker for trips to various locations around the world. Each trip contains key categories of information, including day plans, reservations, things to do, food & drink, and more, so you have everything you need at your fingertips. The entire app is available for use offline as it takes one tap on the Download button under each trip to save it for offline use. If you’re planning a trip to London, for example, you might get a “Literary London” suggestion.
For example, I could view in the app my air, hotel and auto rental reservations for a trip in December 2015 to Puerto Rico, as well as for a jaunt to Dallas in March 2010.
As of launch, there’s no way to add in reservation details manually or from other email services besides Gmail. “You can view the emails where we found this info in each trip’s menu”.
The screenshots above give you a great representation of how this all works, including shots of the map that will help you find stuff that’s close to you or where you are staying, should you be in a large city and not want to travel far.
Customization is front-and-center. For some users at some destinations, Google Trips has a “For You” option that offers recommendations of places to see and dine based on what the app knows about you. Once you open the app, you’ll see a list of current, upcoming, and past trips.
“This is the first travel product that is thoughtfully done and has a chance to succeed”, he said. There’s been a boon in travel planning apps in recent years.
“You can imagine the future capability [for booking functionality] perhaps”, Holden says. This information is based on visits by other travelers.
There are tiles that show which attractions are open now, which are nearby and ones supposedly “for you”, including the Museum of Modern Art, the High Line and the American Museum of Natural History. The outrageous data rates that AT&T charges for global travel – $120 for 800MB – meant I spent most of my time with my cellular connection shut off. Trips was created to address these problems and more. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. “They can’t just be screenshots of the map”. Users can download saved itineraries and reservations so they don’t need to worry about cellular coverage when they get to their destination.
You can add a spot you want to visit to your plans, and you even can tell the app if you have only the morning or afternoon available for this outing. You can pin any new spots you like, and if you want even more, each tap of the “magic wand” instantly gives you a new itinerary with updated nearby attractions like Palau Macaya or Parc del Guinardo, so you can build your own custom itinerary.
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And so Google’s evolution in travel continues.
