Google is turning AI Mode into an all-in-one travel agent

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We recently reported that Google made AI Mode in Search much more useful for trip planning. You could connect supported third-party apps, compare live flight and hotel information, look for recommendations, and even build an itinerary without constantly bouncing between different searches.

Now, the company is taking that a step further. AI Mode can keep an eye on flight prices for you, show what flights and hotels will cost in points or miles, and even help you book a hotel once you’ve found the right one. So, it’s moving beyond helping you plan a trip and getting much closer to helping you actually book it. The addition I suspect most people will appreciate is flight price tracking. Google Flights has offered price alerts for years, but Google is bringing the feature directly into conversations with AI Mode.

You can tell AI Mode where you want to go, roughly when you’d like to travel, and any other requirements you have. It can then pull current fares from more than 300 airlines and travel websites and show you relevant options. If the prices aren’t quite tempting enough yet, you can simply ask AI Mode to track them.

For example, say you’re planning a week in Tokyo in November and have already narrowed things down to a couple of flights, but tickets are still more expensive than you’d like. Instead of remembering to search for the same flights every morning, you can ask AI Mode to watch the prices. Once you confirm the alert, Google will email you when the fare changes.

And if you decide the price is good enough, you can continue building your itinerary in AI Mode before heading to the airline or booking service to actually buy your ticket. Google says flight price tracking through AI Mode is available in more than 180 countries and territories.

AI Mode is also becoming more helpful for anyone sitting on a pile of airline miles or hotel points. Rather than visiting individual rewards websites to figure out whether you have enough points for a trip, you can ask AI Mode directly. Give it your destination, dates, and the rewards program you want to use, and it can show how many points or miles matching flights currently require.

The same works for hotels. Say you’ve collected Hilton points and you’re planning a weekend in Chicago. You can ask it to find suitable hotels and show their current points rates, giving you a much quicker idea of whether redeeming your rewards makes sense or whether you’re better off saving them for another trip. This feature is available globally, although the number of supported rewards programs is still fairly small. Google is starting with Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, Choice Hotels, Hilton, and Wyndham. Accor, Flying Blue, Hyatt, LATAM Airlines, and Lufthansa Group are expected to join the list in the coming weeks.