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Google Trips — Google’s travel companion app — will go offline on Aug. 5. Many of the app’s most popular trip-planning features will be folded into the company’s other services, such as Google Maps and Search.
Since launching in 2016, the app has offered users access to curated itineraries and provided recommendations for tourist destinations, activities and restaurants, along with a page containing hotel and transportation reservations culled from linked Gmail accounts. Google Trips also compiled useful, practical information about a destination, too, such as tipping customs, emergency contact numbers and currency conversion rates under the “Need to Know” page.
While living abroad for school this year, Google Trips was a life saver. The app made finding cool things to do during vacations and weekend trips a breeze, and when my schedule was too busy to plan things in advance, having recommendations for food, museums and landmarks all in the same place made me feel like a seasoned traveler even at my most unprepared. During a two-week-long, six-city itinerary I planned for spring break, I loved having my reservations organized for me, which saved me from having to search through my inbox to check departure times (and make sure I wouldn’t miss my next bus). I’m not exaggerating when I say that, if not for this app, I might still be stuck in Central Europe.
Fans of the app may be sad to see it go — I know that I am — but its features, fortunately, aren’t disappearing. A Google spokesperson told The Points Guy, “We’re evolving the Google Trips experience from a standalone app to an integrated part of trip planning across Google.”
Google is foregoing the app to instead allow travelers to plan trips through the company’s other services, where they already turn for travel information. The app’s Reservations page, which aggregates users’ bookings for travel and lodging, will be replaced by a similar function in the Google Maps app, and travel recommendations will now be found under the “Explore” page on both Google Maps and on Google.com/Travel.
Even with Google Trips coming off the app store, Google has been rapidly expanding its travel services in a number of other ways. There’s Google’s updated hotel search platform, for example, which began allowing travelers to search for vacation rentals alongside traditional hotels and resorts this spring. Google Hotel Search and Google Flights are both now under the Google.com/Travel umbrella, which — after some anticipated updates — will offer much of the one-stop convenience I love about Google Trips.
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM via Unsplash.
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