The 6 New Google AI Features I'm Using to Plan My Summer Travel

Even though travel is genuinely one of my favorite things to do (and my favorite thing to spend money on), it can still be overwhelming to plan a dream trip. I have dozens and dozens of trips — both domestic and international — under my belt and yet, I still find the process of planning and booking stressful.

According to a March 2025 survey , nearly half of all Americans (44%) plan to take a trip that requires a flight or hotel this summer. That means millions of Americans are gathering their passports, creating itineraries and gearing up to travel over the summer. If you're one of those people, you may be looking for help with your trip planning.

That's where AI can help. You can use numerous other AI tools for travel planning, from a general-purpose chatbot like ChatGPT that can answer all of your travel-related queries to Booking.com's AI Trip Planner , which could be your AI-powered travel agent. Usually, though, I use Google tools. Specifically, there are key Google AI features that can assist you with all of your summer travel prep.

Last week, Google announced several new AI features And get the latest enhancements for their suite of applications and services designed to assist you in reserving your getaway. Check out these improvements for Google Search, Maps, Lens, and Gemini to aid you in planning and savoring an unforgettable journey.

For more travel advice , see the optimal moment to purchase airplane tickets and where can one locate affordable flight options . I also explain how I use Google Maps for hassle-free journeys .

Allow AI to create personalized travel schedules

Google's AI Summaries in Search can make organizing your upcoming trip easier. The feature was first introduced in March 2024 , and I've been using it for over a year now to generate personalized travel itineraries for the cities I'm visiting. For instance, I asked Google to plan a bookstore-focused tour of Edinburgh when I was there for three days last May.

Now the feature is expanding. Google said last week that it plans to broaden the capabilities of AI Overviews in Search so you can now make day-by-day itineraries for more than just cities but for distinct regions or entire countries. Just type in a quick command like "create an itinerary for England with a focus on history" or "create an itinerary for New Zealand with a focus on nature."

The artificial intelligence utilizes information from various origins like evaluations, images, and company descriptions provided to Google by individuals throughout time. Subsequently, you have the option to transfer your schedule to Gmail, Docs, or Maps.

It's crucial to keep in mind never to accept AI-generated responses uncritically because these can include errors or fabrications. Always verify such information against reputable expert sources as the AI might be inaccurate. hallucinating , sourcing results from unreliable origins or fabricating data. Should you require an example, look into this article by Katie Collins. Who evaluated the precision of multiple AI tools? regarding a city she knows inside and out.

Get travel inspiration from Gemini

Planning travel can feel daunting, particularly in an unfamiliar city. In such cases, I rely on Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot. Ever since the autumn 2024 upgrade of Google Maps, Gemini has been able to recommend attractions and eateries for your trips.

You can also ask it to find budget-friendly activities in a city or things to do in a country you're visiting when it's raining. Gemini uses Google reviews to curate personalized suggestions and shows them as pins on the map. This feature makes planning easier, helping you discover tailored options and reducing stress.

For comparison, I sometimes give other chatbots, like ChatGPT and Claude, the same travel-related queries and I get comparable answers. Did I mention that you should be sure to fact-check what an AI chatbot tells you?

Create an AI travel agent

You can also try Gemini's Gems feature, which lets you customize Gemini to create your own personal AI expert. Gems are customized versions of Gemini that help you tackle repetitive tasks or insight when researching. That means you can set up a travel planner Gem to help you choose a travel destination, find restaurants in a new city or what to pack for a given vacation.

Google is now offering Gems without a subscription. To use this feature, you must be signed in to Gemini Apps, and then you can create a custom Gem through the "Gems manager" on the desktop.

During my experimentation with this feature, I developed a "travel agent" Gem and documented guidelines for the Gem’s primary goals and functionalities along with the desired style and tone of interaction it should have.

I requested from my AI assistant to design a 10-day plan for exploring various islands across the Caribbean using the prompt, "I’ve been dreaming of hopping between different islands in the Caribbean. Could you put together an itinerary (around 10 days long) covering key islands along with their top sights?" In response, the AI sought more details such as preferred travel dates, financial limits, and how fast-paced I would like the journey to be. Based on this information, the Travel Agent AI crafted a 10-day adventure encompassing Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, and Barbados, incorporating aspects I enjoy including sandy shores, natural landscapes, and historical sites.

You can utilize Gem at no cost to craft your ideal dream getaway, bypassing the need for a costly travel agent. Although such AI tools may prove useful, they cannot substitute the guidance and expertise provided by a genuine professional.

Allow AI to organize screenshots of travel ideas

If you're anything like me, your Photos app is filled with thousands of images from social media, Pinterest, TikTok and travel blogs. When travel planning, I like to screenshot photos of restaurants, museums, parks and other attractions I am just dying to visit. By the end, I have seemingly endless screenshots to sift through.

Last week, Google announced it's rolling out a new feature to the Maps app that can identify locations in your screenshots and save them to a list, making it easier to organize your travel plans. The feature scans screenshots for text mentioning specific places, displays those locations on the map and lets you review, save or share them.

The screenshot list feature is now accessible to iOS users in the U.S., with Android compatibility set to launch shortly.

Identify the least expensive hotels available.

Booking flights doesn’t bother me at all—seriously, I don’t mind even if they’re expensive. However, reserving a hotel room? That’s where things get tricky; it feels like such a significant hit to your budget. Particularly because accommodation generally turns out to be the costliest part of traveling.

I rely on Google Flights daily to locate the most affordable flights available. (No, I review it regularly and have configured email alerts for over 15 destinations whenever rates drop.) Now, Google is extending this convenience to hotel reservations as well.

At google.com/hotels When you use this feature, you’ll notice a new option to monitor prices for your chosen travel dates and location. Similar to how it works on Google Flights, you can enable the price tracking option beneath the search filters, and will get an email alert when there’s a substantial decrease in hotel rates within your search outcomes. Additionally, you have the ability to apply various filters, including star ratings or proximity to beaches, along with specifying the particular zone shown on the map.

Choose an AI-powered tour guide

This isn’t exactly a fresh addition from Google for travelers, yet it remains quite beneficial and simplifies many aspects of travel. My primary worry whenever I visit an unfamiliar country is dealing with the language gap. Getting stranded in an unknown metropolis without knowing how to seek assistance terrifies me. However, Google’s Lens function helps alleviate those anxieties.

Lens makes it easy to learn more about the city you're visiting, your surroundings and the local language. It can quickly and accurately translate street signs, maps, menus and more to help you navigate a foreign language. Just point your camera, tap the translate filter and watch the words translate on your screen.

Lens can decipher more than just text — it can also quickly identify objects or buildings. Suppose you see a crowd of people hovering around a statue or a set of doors. In that case, you can simply point your camera and ask something along the lines of "What are these for?" and Lens will generate an AI Overview with information and links to additional resources.

AI Overviews in Lens (and Circle to Search ) are now available for English queries. Soon, this feature will expand to facilitate queries in Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

For more , see our traveler's prep checklist and how to improve your odds of not having your flight canceled or delayed .