As Google, OpenAI, Expedia, Booking.com and Perplexity compete to shape the future of agentic travel, the balance of power is shifting from traditional meta-search engines to AI-driven interfaces. The result is a world where inspiration, planning and booking blend into one seamless flow — faster, smarter and more personalised than anything travellers have experienced before.
Google is officially moving travel into the era of autonomous planning. The tech giant has launched its AI-powered “Flight Deals” tool globally and confirmed that it is developing full agentic flight and hotel booking directly inside Search — a shift that could redefine how billions of people plan trips. This expansion represents one of Google’s most ambitious travel pushes yet, uniting real-time pricing, itinerary creation and, soon, complete booking into a single AI-powered journey.
Global Push for Smarter, Cheaper Airfare Search
Flight Deals, which first debuted in August across the U.S., Canada and India, is now rolling out across more than 200 countries and territories, including major markets such as the U.K., France, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia. It also supports more than 60 languages. The tool allows travellers to describe the kind of trip they want — a beach break under a certain budget, a quick European escape, or a warm-weather getaway in winter — and Google’s AI instantly surfaces the best bargains using its vast travel data ecosystem.
With this global expansion, Google effectively becomes one of the largest AI-powered flight comparison platforms overnight, positioning itself at the centre of a rapidly evolving travel search landscape.
When trip planning turns into conversation
Google is also expanding the capabilities of AI Mode with “Create with Canvas,” transforming what was originally an academic organiser into a dynamic travel-planning companion. Canvas builds trip plans using real-time flight and hotel data, Google Maps insights, neighbourhood photos, and suggestions for restaurants, activities and experiences. Users simply tell the AI the type of trip they are planning, select the Canvas option, and receive a personalised itinerary in the side panel that they can continue refining through conversation.
The feature is currently available on desktop in the U.S. for users enrolled in Google Labs, and marks a move toward a future where planning a trip feels more like texting a well-informed assistant than conducting research.
AI to completes flight and hotel bookings
Google has confirmed it is now developing full agentic booking capabilities that will eventually allow users to book flights and hotels directly through AI Mode. It is working closely with industry partners including Booking.com, Expedia, Marriott, IHG, Choice Hotels and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. According to Julie Farago, Google’s vice president of engineering for travel and local search, the company is taking its time because of the complex, high-value nature of travel bookings. “We're not going to rush this out the door because we want to make sure it’s seamless and that people have all the control they need and expect,” she said.
Google emphasised that it will not become the merchant of record. Instead, partner companies will handle transactions and booking management, and travellers will retain full control over which partner they book through based on price, policies and loyalty considerations. Although the announcement sparked brief investor anxiety about potential disruption to online travel agencies, analysts later noted that concerns appeared overstated given Google’s collaborative, rather than competitive, model.
What this means for travel
The implications for travellers — and the industry — are profound. Travel planning is shifting from a fragmented, multi-tab process into an intelligent, conversational journey that places AI at the centre of decision-making. Instead of searching manually across dozens of sites, travellers will soon be able to express their intentions — a romantic weekend in Rome, a surfing holiday under a specific budget, a kid-friendly ski trip with good snow conditions — and receive a personalised itinerary that evolves and adjusts through context-aware conversation. Over time, AI Mode could learn user preferences such as favourite hotel brands, preferred aircraft types, neighbourhood styles, loyalty programmes and even dining preferences. This transforms AI from a search add-on into a long-term travel concierge.
