Google Flips the Travel Script with Global AI-powered Booking and Planning Tools

When you type “where should I go on holiday next month” and expect more than just a map of blue links, the world of travel search just tilted. Google is expanding its AI-powered travel toolkit, and the implications for travelers and the travel industry are significant.

On November 17, 2025, Google announced it is rolling out its AI “Flight Deals” tool globally, along with new planning features embedded directly inside its search experience.

What’s New: Flight Deals & Canvas Get Supercharged

The “Flight Deals” feature launched earlier this year in the U.S., Canada and India. Under the update, Google is now making it available in more than 200 countries and territories, and supporting more than 60 languages.

Here’s how it works: a user enters a broad query like “where can I fly next June for under $600?”, and the tool uses AI to surface the best fares, even suggesting destination alternatives and timing flexibility. It connects with Google Flights and filters through deals based on user inputs.

On top of that, Google is enhancing its “Canvas” tool in AI Mode (available on desktop for users in the U.S., as part of Google Labs). Canvas originally helped build study plans and manage side‐panel workflows; now it can help you plan entire trips. You can ask Google: “Plan a 7-day hiking and beach trip in Portugal in September,” and Canvas will pull in flights, hotels, maps, reviews, local attractions and even things to do.

Lastly, Google is expanding agentic booking assistance. Earlier limited to a subset of users, AI Mode will now let more people in the U.S. ask for real-world bookings for restaurants, events, wellness services, with the promise of flights and hotel bookings coming soon.

Why this Matters: Discovery, Friction, and Control

Why should we care? Because search is no longer just about finding websites; it’s becoming about planning, booking and executing experiences. Google is positioning itself to be not only a gateway, but a full-service travel assistant.

From the consumer’s perspective:

• Less friction: You don’t need to visit multiple sites, compare manually or oscillate between tabs. The flight deals tool and Canvas bring the discoveries, comparisons and planning into one interface.
• More inspiration: Instead of “cheap flights from Delhi to London,” you might get “cheap flights from Delhi to Lisbon in September — plus hotel options, sample itineraries and local activity suggestions.”
• Localized, multitask languages: With more than 60 languages supported and more than 200 markets, this is a nod to travel becoming more global, multilingual and expectation-rich.

From Google’s perspective:

• Deeper value capture: By embedding deeper planning and booking capabilities, Google can retain users within its ecosystem for longer, capture more travel intent and potentially monetise more deeply.
• Higher stakes for competitors: Traditional travel search and OTAs (online travel agencies) may face increased competition if planning, comparison and booking move into Google’s owned interfaces.
• Data moat growth: More aggregated travel queries, booking intents and behavioural data will become part of Google’s treasure chest, enabling better predictions, improved UI, and potentially richer ad-products.

Some Caveats on Rollout and Limitations

• Availability: While the global expansion is impressive, some features (like full booking of flights/hotels directly via AI Mode) are still “coming soon” or limited to certain geographies or user groups.
• User behaviour change: Even if Google fields such capabilities, users still must trust the tool. Travelers accustomed to going directly to booking engines may take time to shift.
• Competitive/regulatory environment: Because travel is tightly regulated and heavily commercialised, the rise of Google’s AI travel assistant will likely attract attention from advertisers, travel platforms and possibly regulators.
• Data and privacy: With deeper travel planning comes deeper personal data capture (dates, destinations, preferences). Google will need to ensure transparency and security to maintain user trust.

What’s next: Predictions and Implications

• Broader booking integration: A natural next step is for Google to fully support booking flights and hotels inside its AI Mode, potentially turning Search into a full travel booking storefront.
• Deep personalisation: With more user data, Google could move from “best deals” to “best deal for you”, tailoring offers based on frequent destinations, travel habits, loyalty status and more.
• Vertical expansion: Travel isn’t just flights and hotels. We may see similar AI-powered tools for car rentals, sightseeing, visa assistance, travel insurance and local experiences.
• New travel marketing dynamics: For airlines, hotels and OTAs, the algorithmic levers may shift. If Google’s tool becomes a dominant front-door, brands may prioritise appearing in its AI output rather than just bidding on keywords.
• User empowerment vs. lock-in tension: On one hand, users benefit from easier planning; on the other, if Google becomes the dominant assistant, concerns around choice, transparency and “filter bubbles” may emerge.

Final word

Google’s latest expansion of its AI-powered travel tools signals a clear shift: the future of travel search is less about lists of links and more about actionable planning and booking within a unified interface. For consumers, that’s more convenience and smarter suggestions. For the travel industry, it means new competitive dynamics and higher expectations around speed, personalisation and global reach. For Google, it’s an investment in becoming not just the search engine, but the travel assistant many of us will rely on.