Google Trips wants to be your Android holiday concierge

Alan Martin April 29, 2016

With more than two million apps on Android’s Google Play marketplace, it’s not surprising that travel and holidays are pretty well represented. Now it seems that Google wants a slice of that pie, and the company intends to use its inside knowledge of Gmail to ensure it works as painlessly as possible.

Google Trips wants to be your Android holiday concierge

Spotted by Dutch website Android World, Google Trips is an app that’s currently being tested by members of the company’s Local Guides programme. Gmail already lets you create travel bundles by combining holiday-related stuff in one handy place, but this next step is an app that includes your itinerary and recommendations in one place – and, crucially, it allows you to keep some travel data offline. google_trips_barcelona_screenshot

Although the majority of this should be automated, if you buy into the Google ecosystem (and if you have an Android phone, you almost certainly do), there’s also the option to add your own information manually.

Once done, Google will show a list of local recommendations, including specific suggestions for indoor and outdoor visits, and allow users to leave feedback and post photos, very much sauntering into TripAdvisor’s territory. Google Maps functionality will be integrated too, with the app offering advice on how to actually get to the places it recommends.

The functionality offered is all very familiar to people who routinely use the likes of TripIt and TripAdvisor when traveling, but putting it all in one place, with Google’s special insights into your calendar and email, could be a particularly strong selling point for those who want one less stress to worry about when heading abroad. We’ll just have to see if and when it exits beta testing and joins the Google Play store.

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Images: Android World