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7 ways Google Trips takes the stress out of vacation planning

Brittany Jones-Cooper

This week, Google (GOOGL) released Google Trips, a free app that essentially turns your smartphone into a travel agent. Similar to apps like TripCase or TripIt, Google Trips promises to make planning a trip effortless by pulling all of your vacation information into one place. As someone who constantly books trips, I was curious to see if Google’s newest feature lived up to the hype. In the end, I found seven things I loved, and three things I think the app could improve on.

What I loved:

1. Imports your itinerary

If you have a Gmail account, Google Trips will scan your email account for new and old travel itineraries. By seamlessly pulling in your airline reservations and travel dates, the app is able to automatically curate suggestions tailored to your trip.

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2. Easily accessible travel information

Another benefit of pulling in your airline and hotel reservations is that it makes accessing your travel information even easier. If you’re curious how long your flight is, or need to quickly access your booking confirmation number, one swipe on your smartphone puts everything at your fingertips.

3. No Wi-Fi, no data? No problem

We’ve all been there: You get in a taxi in a foreign country when the cab driver asks for your destination. You pull out your phone, but without an international data plan, you can’t pull up the hotel’s address. In other words, you might as well be holding a rock. With Google Trips, you’ll be able to access your travel itinerary even when you aren’t connected to WiFi or data. Everything you need to know is right there!

4. Tells you what to do

Travel books provide tons of great information about a new city, but they are typically thick and too heavy to carry around. With Google Trips, a list of the most popular sightseeing destinations are easily accessible and broken up by category. After selecting the place you’d like to visit, the app will tell you hours of operation, address, and phone number. You can even read reviews from people who have previously visited.

5. Tells you where to eat

Finding a great restaurant is one of the hardest parts of traveling, especially when you’re visiting a city with limitless options. Narrow your search by clicking the “food and drink” tab on Google Trips. In addition to sharing some history on foods unique to area, the app will suggest dining options for every situation. From high-end restaurants to family-friendly options, finding a place to chow down has never been easier.

6. Automatically plans your day

Headed to a new city, but not a fan of planning daily activities? No worries! By using the “Day Plans” option, the app maps out popular destinations for you to check out. If you don’t like the proposed itinerary, you can simply click the magic wand, and it will offer new suggestions.

7. Answers all of your questions

Under the “Getting around” tab, users can learn more about the cost, efficiency and accessibility of public and private transportation. Under the “Need to Know” tab you can learn more about shopping neighborhoods, healthcare options and currency. Basically, any questions you have about how to navigate a new city are answered by Google Trips.

So what’s missing?

1. Will it rain?

I was surprised to find no mention of weather in the app. As we all know, the forecast can greatly affect a travel itinerary, so showing the projected temperature for your travel dates would be a great help while planning.

2. Tickets please!

Google Trips already puts all of your travel information in one place, so it would make sense if there were a way to access your boarding pass as well. If the app isn’t able to actually import your pass, it would be great if travelers could click a button and get connected to their boarding passes in Apple Wallet (if you’re an iPhone user).

3. Needs a bit more history

As a lover of history, I was also hoping the app would provide more information on some of the suggested attractions. It doesn’t have to be a Wikipedia page, but providing more insight into why a destination is important could help travelers to better plan their itinerary.

Brittany is a writer at Yahoo Finance.

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