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Google's new travel booking tools take a pandemic into account
Aug 14, 2020
There's been one dominant way to plan trips since the 1990s: Search for flights online, based on desired destinations, add in a hotel, and voila, you're on your way.
The Covid-19 pandemic has upended that long-held status quo. Even for those undeterred by public health concerns, flights are limited, thanks to border closures that change week by week.
Airlines are taking scattered approaches to ensure safety. Hotels require thorough vetting to make sure they're open and taking appropriate precautions. Even planning a road trip can be exhausting once you start accounting for state-by-state checkpoints and quarantine regulations.
Enter Google, which on Thursday debuted a suite of new booking features to its flight , hotel , and trip search tools to help untangle the shifting rules of travel amid a pandemic. Type Los Angeles into any of those booking engines and, along with the usual options, you'll also get real-time data on the number of Covid-19 cases there along with how many flights and hotels have resumed service. No other major travel provider is currently displaying this level of detail.
More common among its competitors but new to Google are filters for accommodations that offer free cancellation policies, adding to other insights such as government-issued travel advisories that had quietly rolled out at the pandemic's onset.
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