Google Trips got a good bit of attention on its recent release in September, but I’m not sure I understand the fanfare.
Forbes called Google Trips is a “fantastic… travel app you should download now.” The Verge said it’s “a killer travel app.”
Many others hail it as a personalized travel app, but I’d argue it’s not quite there, yet.
Here’s what Google Trips can do. It scours my email to find itineraries and provides quick access to the original emails if I need them. Handy.
It keeps my car rental details right there along with the air itineraries. I like this, except I mostly Uber these days.
The best part of any of this is that it’s available even when I don’t have wifi, which isn’t all that often anymore. I’d argue that Google Trips make travel more mobile-friendly.
Otherwise, though, Google Trips is basically a smart destination guide. Using a combination of attractions that I select and my search history, Google Trips will craft attraction itineraries guessing at what my interests are. It’s a nice feature.
But not necessarily innovative.
It’s a useful tool that integrates some data, but it would be more helpful if it understood that I’m the kind of leisure traveler who flies into a major city, spends one or two nights and then heads to the country.
It isn’t able to pick up much in the way of reservations outside of major cities as far as I can tell, and it definitely doesn’t do attractions and restaurants. Not yet at least.
What would be a game-changer is to make it more personal. Google Trips is on the cusp of doing this with the itineraries feature, but it must go further than this. It needs to understand how I travel more than it needs to understand what I like to do.
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