Travel planning is supposed to be fun. But between the dozens of screenshots, forgotten tabs, and endless hotel comparisons, it can quickly spiral into a logistical mess. Google wants to change that. Its latest round of updates across Maps, Search, and Hotels makes AI travel planning more seamless, personalized, and—dare we say—stress-free.
Let’s start with Google Maps. The Verge reports that a new feature called the “screenshot list” is now rolling out to iOS users in the U.S. (with Android support on the way). Once activated, it uses Google’s Gemini AI to scan your device’s screenshots for place names mentioned in text. It can then map those locations and let you save them into a shareable list. This should cut down on how easy it is to lose track of cool restaurants or must-see landmarks hidden deep in your camera roll. The downside, though, is that the AI system relies on visible text, not image recognition. As such, that photo of a handwritten note might still get lost in the shuffle. Still, it could help make AI travel planning a bit easier in the long run.
Meanwhile, Search is getting a major upgrade for building custom itineraries. You can now type prompts like “plan a family trip to New York City focused on food and museums,” and Google’s AI will generate a full itinerary—complete with maps, user reviews, photos, and suggested activities. You can then save those ideas to Maps or send them to Gmail or Docs. It’s essentially like having a travel agent baked into your browser, and it’s rolling out now in the English language across mobile and desktop.
For deal-hunters, Google is also expanding its price-tracking tools globally. Hotel search results will now include a toggle that lets you monitor price drops for your selected dates and filters—whether you’re looking for beachfront views or a five-star resort. Alerts will be delivered straight to your inbox, which should help you snag the best deals without constantly refreshing tabs.
Finally, The Verge says Google is planning to release multilingual support for AI Overviews in Google Lens with support for six more languages, including Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese, rolling out soon. These updates mark a big push forward for Google in AI travel planning, nudging the experience closer to effortless on your part. This is just the latest push Google has made to put Gemini in Maps, and it’s likely we’ll see more features coming out in the months to follow, too.
In this story, Google (GOOGL-1.38%) is making travel planning a whole lot easier for users, with artificial intelligence makeovers to its Search and Maps functions released Thursday, March 27, 2025. Chances are, you have tons of screenshots piling up and lost somewhere in your camera roll of texts and social media posts of places you want to visit or restaurants you want to eat at. The Alphabet unit has a new feature that turns those pictures into pins on Google Maps. You just upload the screenshot and Maps’ new AI feature will automatically scan and identify the places listed in it, and pin it so that it is easier to access later.
The new “AI Overviews in Search” feature enables Search and Gemini to plan out full itineraries for your travels, with transportation and accommodation options. Search and Gemini have been integrated via the AI Overview function since last year. When you search for anything using Google’s search engine, you get an AI overview at the top giving a summary of the results. Now, instead of a summary of your request and directions to other websites, Search’s AI Overview will comb the internet to give you a specialized itinerary. You can also track hotel prices on Google Search, the same as with flights, by tapping the price-tracking toggle below the search filter.
Google’s AI overhaul has been like a marathon sprint, company executives have said, and this AI-first strategy is unlikely to go away. “Since 2016, we’ve said Google is an AI-first company, and that won’t change,” Google VP Sissie Hsiao told Quartz in December. “It’s essential to embrace this technology in order to stay competitive.” The company continues to update its current AI offerings and to integrate the technology into its existing products, while looking for ways to compete with major industry rivals like OpenAI, which unveiled its Gemini 2.5 model on Tuesday.
Google is rolling out a suite of five new features across its Search, Maps, and Gemini platforms with several of them powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The features aim to simplify and enhance the way users plan their summer vacations. AI Overviews in Search for trip planning Google Search is getting a significant upgrade with AI Overviews that can now generate trip ideas for entire regions or countries. Users can now initiate searches such as ‘create an itinerary for Himachal Pradesh with a focus on treks’ to receive AI-generated suggestions.
Google says that the feature allows users to explore photos and reviews, view locations on an interactive map, and export itineraries via Docs or Gmail, or save them as custom lists in Google Maps. This trip planning with AI Overviews is available for English language queries in the US on mobile and desktop. Google brings hotel price tracking for budget-conscious travelers Google is introducing hotel price tracking, based on the success of flight price tracking. Users browsing on google.com/hotels will find a new option to monitor hotel prices for their chosen dates and destinations. The system will account for user-selected filters such as star ratings and beach access. If prices drop, Google will send email alerts to users.
The hotel price tracking feature is launching globally this week on mobile and desktop browsers. Maps can use AI to turn screenshots into travel plans Google Maps is gaining the ability to convert user screenshots into tangible travel plans. Maps will now offer a feature that, with user permission, automatically identifies places mentioned in screenshots of potential destinations taken by users. Users can then review and save these places to a list, which will be displayed on the map for easy trip planning and sharing.
This feature is starting its rollout this week in the US in English on iOS, with an Android version coming soon. Google Lens will now provide AI Overviews Google Lens in the Google app (Android and iOS) can now provide AI Overviews in response to user queries about their surroundings. Users can point their camera at an object and ask questions like “what are these used for?” to receive AI-generated information and relevant web resources. Google says Lens is also enhancing its translation capabilities, allowing users to translate text on signs, menus, and other materials in real-time.
AI Overviews in Lens are currently available for English queries and will soon expand to other languages. Gemini now provides AI-powered travel assistance through Gems Google is making Gemini’s Gems feature freely available to all users. Gems allow users to create custom AI experts within Gemini. This enables users to create a personalised trip planner Gem that can assist with destination selection, packing suggestions, and more.
Gemini can also be used for broader travel inspiration, such as finding the cheapest flights or suggesting YouTube videos for budget travel tips. Gems are now available for all users on desktop. If you're anything like me and screenshot nearly everything, including travel destinations you want to visit, you're probably used to them getting lost in your camera roll. Thanks to Gemini, Google might have a solution for you.
Google’s Latest Updates Make Travel Planning Smarter and Easier Today, Google announced a new "screenshot lists" feature through a blog post on The Keyword. Whether it’s an image of a destination you want to visit, a wall of text from your notes app, or an Instagram Reel showing the top 10 spots in New York City, this feature will help you keep track of any travel-related screenshots you take. If you’ve enabled the feature, Gemini will automatically identify the locations in your screenshots. You will then be prompted to review and save the ones you’re interested in to a "Screenshots" list. The saved destinations will appear on Google Maps at their exact coordinates, marked with a camera icon.
This feature has started rolling out in the US in English this week. It's currently only available on iOS, and is "coming soon" to Android. Google’s new travel-related features don’t end here. The company has also updated the infamous AI Overviews in Google Search, letting you create “trip ideas for distinct regions or entire countries.” By searching something as simple as “create an itinerary full of sightseeing and dining options,” Google will generate an AI Overview with a day-by-day breakdown, including photos and user reviews. If you want to save the itinerary for later, you can export it to Docs or Gmail or save it as a custom list in Google Maps.
This feature has already rolled out in the US on mobile and desktop, though it currently only supports English language queries. When you’re traveling, it’s only natural for expenses to pile up quickly. If you’re familiar with Google Flights’ price-tracking feature, which alerts you when flight prices drop, you’ll be glad to hear that you can now do the same with hotels. When browsing hotels on google.com/hotels, you’ll see a new Track hotel prices option just below the search filters. Once enabled, Google will email you if there’s a significant price drop for any of the hotels you’ve looked at.
This feature is rolling out globally this week on both desktop and mobile browsers. If getting started on trip planning is the hardest part for you, Gemini can help with that too. Even better, Gemini Gems, now available for free to everyone, lets you customize the AI assistant to create your own personal AI expert. This way, you’ll have a personalized AI travel guide to help you plan even the smallest details of your trip. I do have my doubts about how well Gemini can plan a vacation though, especially considering how underwhelming ChatGPT's trip-planning skills have been.
