Google is putting airline and hotel award prices directly into AI Mode in Search. Ask it for nonstop American Airlines awards from Atlanta to Miami on specific dates and it will return flight choices with AAdvantage prices and taxes, let you choose the outbound and return, and then send you to American to redeem.
Most people aren’t going to install an award-search browser extension or pay for a specialist service. Google says AI Mode has more than one billion monthly users. So basic award search is about to reach a much larger audience although initial airlines and hotels are quite limited.
The initial partners are:
Airlines: Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, and American AirlinesHotels: Choice Hotels, Hilton and Wyndham
In the coming weeks Google says it will add Accor, Flying Blue, Hyatt, LATAM Airlines and Lufthansa Group. That still leaves real gaps without Delta, United, JetBlue and Southwest, along with Marriott and IHG.
Google says it is using the “latest data directly from our partners” but doesn’t promise that every award result is queried live. We’ve already seen how aggressively an airline may try to shut an independent award tool out and Google’s ability to do partnerships (and travel providers’ desires not to anger them) should make this pretty durable.
Google’s Other Two New Travel Features #
Google is also bringing its existing flight price tracking into AI Mode. Describe the trip and any constraints, ask Google to track it, confirm the route, dates and filters, and Google will email when the price changes. Cash results draw on more than 300 airline and booking, and the feature is available in more than 180 countries and territories (but not the European Economic Area, which is increasingly leaving itself behind in technological development and also has greater antitrust risk). This is making an existing capability more accessible.
For hotel booking, you can tell AI Mode where you want to stay, the budget and what matters to you. It returns a visual list with reviews, a map and factors to compare. Select “Continue on Google” next to an integrated hotel chain or online travel agency and you remain inside Google to choose a room, review cancellation terms, enter guest information and pay with Google Pay. The hotel or booking platform still remains the merchant, owns the reservation and handles customer service. Google passes the reservation to to the booking site.
Booking.com, Choice, Expedia, Hilton, Hotels.com, IHG, Marriott, Priceline, Trip.com and Wyndham are participating in the initial U.S. rollout. In the demo, Marriott’s official channel, Booking.com, Expedia and Trip.com each show the New Orleans Marriott at $206, with another 31 options available.
Choosing Marriott itself should produce a direct reservation that earns points and elite credit, while Booking.com or Expedia reservations usually won’t. Google’s demo labels the official site and even notes that going to the hotel website may produce a lower price and free Wi-Fi with enrollment. It does not show a Bonvoy-number field. Google needs to make member rates, loyalty earning and elite benefits if it wants to inform consumers about their best options.
Google launched essentially the same merchant structure with Book on Google in 2015 and killed it in 2022 because too few consumers and partners used it. Google is betting that staying inside a conversation and paying with saved Google Pay credentials solves the adoption problem.
Points Path Is Still Better Inside Of Google #
Points Path’s defining advantage is that it inserts award prices beside cash prices for the same flights in Google Flights. It tells you whether cash or miles is the better deal, shows the different loyalty programs that can book a flight and identifies transferable bank currencies and current transfer bonuses. And it has a wider array of airlines covered.
Its free version covers Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue and United. Paid plans bring the total to 17 airline programs and add award-price alerts, a seven-day award calendar, flexible alerts, connected balances and custom point valuations.
With Google’s launch, the user names one program and fixed dates and doesn’t show:
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the cash fare beside the award price
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whether 23,000 miles plus $12 is a good redemption
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other programs that can book the same flight
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transfer partners or transfer bonuses
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the user’s balances, elite status or cardholder award discounts
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flexible-date award calendars or award-price alerts Points Path is the better flight award shopping and decision tool today. Google is easier for the casual traveler because they don’t need to know about Points Path and doesn’t require an extension.
Google Isn’t Trying To Become Expedia #
I’ve been writing about Google’s travel-agent ambitions since 2012 and argued in 2015 that Google’s data and ability to understand intent could restore some of the personalized guidance lost when online booking replaced good travel agents. The conversational interface is progress, and shows where Google has advantages integrating with its other capabilities and with its consumer scale even if its public models lag those of Anthropic and OpenAI.
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Google handles what the customer asks for, what options they see, which tradeoffs they make and what they choose.
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It leaves ticketing, inventory risk, refunds, changes, fraud and angry customers to American, Marriott, Expedia or Booking.com.
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Longer, more specific AI Mode queries create better advertising opportunities. It’s also testing sponsored links inside answers with IHG cited for ‘direct offers’ during trip planning.
Booking Holdings spent $8.2 billion on marketing in 2025, much of its performance marketing through Google. Expedia spent $7.35 billion on direct selling and marketing, including search traffic. So building here is valuable even if Google isn’t directly selling the travel.
Topics on this page
[Google AI Mode](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/google-ai-mode/)
[Google Search](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/google-search/)
[Tripsight, Inc.](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/tripsight-inc/)
[AAdvantage](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/aadvantage/)
[Accor](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/accor/)
[Alaska](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/alaska/)
[Alaska Airlines](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/alaska-airlines/)
[American Airlines](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/american-airlines/)
[Artificial intelligence](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/artificial-intelligence/)
[Atlanta](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/atlanta/)
[Book](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/book/)
[Booking Holdings Inc.](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/booking-holdings-inc/)
[Delta Air Lines](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/delta-air-lines/)
[Deutsche Lufthansa AG](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/deutsche-lufthansa-ag/)
[E-commerce](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/e-commerce/)
[Expedia](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/expedia/)
[Expedia Group](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/expedia-group/)
[Flying Blue](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/flying-blue/)
[Generative AI](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/generative-ai/)
[Google Flights](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/google-flights/)
[Google Pay](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/google-pay/)
[Hawaiian Airlines](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/hawaiian-airlines/)
[Hilton](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/hilton/)
[Hyatt](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/hyatt/)
[IHG Hotels & Resorts](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/ihg-hotels-resorts/)
[JetBlue](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/jetblue/)
[Klook](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/klook/)
[LATAM Airlines](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/latam-airlines/)
[Loyalty program](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/loyalty-program/)
[Marriott Hotels & Resorts](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/marriott-hotels-resorts/)
[Miami](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/miami/)
[Online travel agency](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/online-travel-agency/)
[OpenAI](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/openai/)
[Priceline.com](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/priceline-com/)
[Southwest Airlines](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/southwest-airlines/)
[United Airlines](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/united-airlines/)
[Wyndham Hotels & Resorts](https://viewfromthewing.com/topic/wyndham-hotels-resorts/)