Google Trips Takes Off

Google’s long-rumored Google Trips service is now live, giving Android and iPhone users a way to consolidate all of their vacation and trip planning into a single, offline-accessible place.

“Google Trips is a personalized tour guide in your pocket,” Google explains. “Each trip contains key categories of information, including day plans, reservations, things to do, food & drink, and more, so you have everything you need at your fingertips. The entire app is available offline — simply tap the Download button under each trip to save it to your phone.”

So, yes. It’s a TripIt competitor.

I’ve installed Google Trips on my Nexus 6P and iPhone 7 Plus, but it didn’t come up with any previous trips, despite the fact that I travel a lot. And it can’t find my next trip, to Atlanta, despite the fact that hotel and flight info is easily found in my email. So I’m off to a great start.

But here’s what Google says the app can do:

Automatic trip organization. Your travel reservations are automatically gathered from Gmail and organized into individual trips. Each trip contains day plans, things to do, food and drink suggestions, and more.

Bundled reservations. See your flight, hotel, rental car, and restaurant bookings in one place without having to search for them individually.

Day plans. For several hundred of the world’s top places, find popular day plans organized on a map that you can customize based on your interests and available time.

Nearby attractions. Find out when you’re near popular attractions (and whether they’re open) as well as reviews and ratings from other travelers.

Things to do. Every trip contains ideas for things to do automatically organized into useful categories like Top Spots and Indoors or Outdoors. For many of the world’s top places, you’ll get curated local suggestions and travel tips.

Offline access. No Internet? No problem. Google Trips is available offline, so you’ll always have access to your info.

You can download Google Trips now on both Android and iPhone. Be sure to check out this introductory video as well.