Google has been dipping its toe into the online travel booking space for several years and now the tech giant has dived right in by launching it’s very own site dedicated to hotel booking.
There was no big reveal for the site. Google’s Vice President of Product Management & Travel Richard Holden simply wrote about the new features for Google Flights and Hotels in a blog post, casually mentioning the new hotel booking site.
The site lets you see whether you’re getting the best deal for your chosen hotel and how that rate compares to nearby options with similar amenities.
For instance, if you want to go to a particular city during the last week of March, just add the details to the Google site, choose between several hotels and Google will tell you if you’re getting a bargain.
Once you’re ready to choose, you select the “Book a room” button which links to either the hotel directly a third-party booking site, OR there is an option to book right on Google.
You can also apply a “Deals” filter, which Google says “uses machine learning to highlight hotels where one or more of our partners offer rates that are significantly lower than the usual price for that hotel or similar hotels nearby.”
Holden wrote that the company’s well-known search functionality is one reason to use the new hotel booking site
This is Google’s latest move since launching Google Flights and Google Trips (a travel app integrated with Gmail).
This move is expected to upset direct competitors like Hotels.com and Booking.com.
- READ: SUPER BOWL: Google Translate’s leaked ad will give you goosebumps + more from the game
- READ: Google Flights app gets upgraded to snuff out Kayak and TripAdvisor