Google is developing hotel and flight booking through AI Mode, building on the agentic tools it introduced two weeks ago for restaurant, event and wellness reservations. The company is working with partners including Booking.com, Expedia, Marriott International, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Choice Hotels International and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
Details on booking flow and payments are still being finalised, and Google has not given a launch date. Partner companies will manage transactions and service bookings made in AI Mode.
The update follows Google’s recent AI shopping rollout ahead of the holidays. The company has also been expanding its agentic payments work, including a partnership with PayPal in October and the launch of an Agent Payments Protocol in September. Google is exploring how to use information previously provided by users, with permission, and said advertising is likely to follow only after establishing product-market fit.
Investor concerns emerged about potential risk to online travel agencies following the announcement, but BTIG described those concerns as overstated.
Google has added trip-planning tools to Google Canvas, allowing users in AI Mode to request recommendations and create itineraries that can be saved in Canvas. The feature is available to desktop users in the US who have opted into the AI Mode experiment in Google Labs.
The company has also widened access to its AI-powered Flight Deals tool within Google Flights. Previously available in the US, Canada and India, it is being rolled out to more than 200 countries and territories, including Germany, the UK, France, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea, and now supports more than 60 languages.
Other companies are also developing agentic booking and commerce tools. OpenAI launched ChatGPT apps last month with Expedia and Booking.com as early partners. Perplexity partnered with SelfBook in the spring to offer hotel booking. Stripe and OpenAI launched Instant Checkout in ChatGPT in September, and Visa and Mastercard have introduced tools to support agentic commerce.
Julie Farago, Google’s vice president of engineering for travel and local search, said: “Our goal is that you’ll be able to also book flights and hotels directly in AI Mode. We’re not going to rush this out the door because we want to make sure that it’s a seamless experience and that people have all the control that they need and expect.”
“We’re committed to partnering with travel companies of every size, so you have all the best options at your fingertips.”
