Google just unleashed its AI travel tools worldwide, expanding its Flight Deals search to more than 200 countries and territories while adding comprehensive trip planning capabilities to AI Mode. The company announced the global rollout on Monday, marking a significant expansion from the tool's initial launch in just three markets this past August.
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Flight Deals, which first debuted in the US, Canada, and India, uses artificial intelligence to understand natural language travel requests and surface flight bargains through conversational search. Now travelers in countries including the UK, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea can simply describe their ideal trip - like telling a friend "I want a cheap weekend getaway somewhere warm" - and let Google's AI handle the heavy lifting.
"Flight Deals will use AI to understand what you’re looking for and show the best bargains available," according to Google's announcement, tapping into real-time Google Flights data to quickly show relevant, up-to-date options from hundreds of airlines and booking sites. The tool now supports more than 60 languages, making it accessible to travelers worldwide.
But the travel upgrades don't stop there. Google is also introducing Canvas, a new travel planning feature within AI Mode that transforms what started as a study tool into a comprehensive trip organizer. Users can now describe their next vacation to AI Mode and select the "Create with Canvas" option to generate a complete itinerary in a side panel.
Canvas pulls together real-time search data for flights and hotels, details from Google Maps including photos and reviews, and relevant information from across the web. The tool provides suggestions that fit specific criteria, like hotel comparisons based on pricing and amenities or restaurant and activity recommendations optimized by travel time from accommodations.
What's particularly clever is how Canvas handles the inevitable travel trade-offs. You can ask follow-up questions and get help with decisions like choosing between a hotel closer to brunch spots versus one nearer hiking trails. The plans are stored in AI Mode's history, so you can jump back in anytime to refine your itinerary.
Travel planning with Canvas is currently available on desktop in the US for users who have opted into the AI Mode experiment in Labs. The feature represents Google's continued evolution of Canvas, which launched in March as a dynamic workspace for Gemini and has since expanded to become part of AI Mode in Search.
This week also brings expanded agentic booking capabilities to more users across the US. AI Mode can now help with restaurant reservations, event tickets, and beauty and wellness appointments without requiring a Labs opt-in. Users simply describe what they're looking for with their needs and preferences, and AI Mode searches across multiple reservation platforms to find real-time availability.
The system then shows a curated list with direct links to finalize bookings through partners like OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, Booksy, Fresha, and Vagaro. This expansion comes just two weeks after Google first launched agentic bookings in AI Mode.
Looking ahead, Google confirmed it's developing similar capabilities for hotel and flight reservations directly within AI Mode. The company is working with industry partners including Booking.com, Choice Hotels International, Expedia, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts to build an experience where users can describe what they're looking for, compare different flights or hotels, browse information like schedules, prices, room photos, amenities, and reviews, then complete bookings with their chosen partner.
Google emphasized that partner companies will manage transactions and service bookings made through AI Mode, with the company not serving as a merchant of record. Users will maintain control over partner choice based on prices and terms rather than having partners selected on their behalf.
With today's updates, Google is making a serious play to own the entire travel workflow, from initial inspiration to final booking. The combination of AI-powered flight searches, trip planning, and expanding booking capabilities positions Google as a formidable competitor in the travel technology space, going head-to-head with established players like Kayak and Expedia, which are also building their own AI-powered features.
For travelers, the promise is simple: let AI handle more of the busywork so you can spend less time planning and more time having fun. As holiday travel season approaches, these tools couldn't arrive at a better time for anyone dreaming about their next vacation or visiting family.
