You can now track flight prices, see what flights and hotels cost in points or miles, and book your hotel, all through Google’s AI Mode in Search. With the new update, Google is positioning its conversational AI tool to play a much bigger role in how we plan our travel.

The new features, which the search giant announced on August 27, bring Google Flights’ popular price-tracking tech directly into AI Mode. That means users in supported markets can tell AI Mode when and where they want to fly, compare current prices from more than 300 airlines and travel sites, and have Google email them if prices change.

Points-and-miles pricing is already available globally, with American Airlines, Alaska Airlines/Hawaiian Airlines, Hilton, Choice Hotels, and Wyndham on board. The rollout of English-language hotel booking in the United States is underway, with Booking.com, Expedia, Marriott, IHG, and Hotels.com among Google’s partners.

Google Is Bringing Hotel Booking Directly Into AI Mode

Hotel booking is where you can really see how Google’s new tools in AI Mode are keeping more of the travel-planning process inside Search.

Users can describe the trip they want to take, compare hotels and reviews, choose their room, and complete the reservation with Google Pay, all without ever leaving AI Mode.

Google still leaves important parts of the hotel transaction to its partners. For example, the hotel or booking platform will still be the merchant of record and handle customer service. Even with that, Google wants to control a much bigger part of how we plan our travel. Instead of opening multiple tabs to search for a hotel, compare rates, and then decide where to book, you can do that all within one AI conversation.

Travel Booking Gives Google More Control Over the Customer Journey

While on the surface, it may seem like Google is trying to make our lives easier with this new update, its motives aren’t purely altruistic.

Google stands to benefit by keeping more of the travel-planning process inside Search. By doing so, it strengthens its position in a part of its business where it already makes money from advertising

Booking.com, Expedia, and hotel chains have decided to participate in Google’s AI Mode instead of being cut out. But AI Mode now sits between them and travelers earlier in the decision-making process. That gives Google the power to decide which options to show users, and customers have less reason to visit travel sites themselves.

Google told PhocusWire that AI Mode results don’t currently include paid placements, and partners can’t pay to influence rankings. However, the company hasn’t ruled out paid ads in the future.

The more of the travel process Google can keep inside AI Mode, the more influence it has over where travelers spend their money. And just as websites have complained that Google’s AI-powered search features are costing them traffic, airlines, hotels, and booking sites could end up confronting a very similar problem.

If travelers can research, compare, and even book hotels in AI Mode, those companies may have fewer opportunities to attract customers to their own websites.

That could leave travel companies with an uncomfortable choice: play nicely with Google and accept having less control over the customer relationship, or risk losing direct traffic and potential bookings by staying out.

Also in Consumer Tech News

Amazon Raises Prices on Echo, Kindle, and More

As memory and storage costs continue to surge, Amazon has joined other tech giants in hiking its prices. According to Fortune, Kindles, Fire TV devices, and eero routers have all gotten more expensive.

The Echo Dot has gone up from $49.99 to $79.99, while the 16GB Kindle rose from $109.99 to $149.99 and the Kindle Paperwhite from $159.99 to $199.99. Amazon said it had absorbed rising component costs before adjusting its prices.

The rising prices are yet another example of how the AI-driven memory shortage continues to affect what consumers pay for everyday gadgets. Cheap ecosystem hardware is one way companies have attracted consumers to their products. Now, it looks like it’s going to be much harder to sell them at bargain prices as component costs continue to climb.

WhatsApp Makes Two-Step Verification Stronger

WhatsApp announced on August 25 that it was strengthening account security by replacing its six-digit two-step verification PIN with support for longer alphanumeric passwords that can include special characters.

Meta is also allowing users to add multiple passkeys to an account, which should make switching between Android and iOS devices easier. More than one billion people already use passkeys on WhatsApp.

On Android, users will get more information about calls from numbers outside their contact list. That information includes whether the caller is in another country and whether they share any groups. The changes give users stronger tools to protect their accounts and make suspicious calls easier to spot before they engage.

Apple Sets September 9 for Its Next Product Event

Apple’s next product event is set for September 9, giving consumers less than two weeks to wait for what’s expected to be its next major iPhone launch. Apple has only confirmed the date and its “Surprise and shine” tagline, but Reuters reports the company could introduce the first foldable iPhone.

The event will take place just days after John Ternus takes over as CEO from Tim Cook on September 1, making it his first major product launch as head of the company. A foldable iPhone would give Apple a new premium hardware category as smartphone makers look for new reasons to convince consumers to upgrade. 

Originally published by Techopedia on August 28, 2026, as part of the Techopedia Consumer Report series.