Google introduced an app called Trips last year that helps people organize their travel plans and figure out what to do once they arrive at their destination.
About Trips
The free app, available on Android and iOS, will organize your plane tickets and hotel reservations. It even makes personalized recommendations based on your Google history. Best of all, it works offline! You can download everything to your phone before you leave. This includes maps and walking directions – sparing you from roaming charges.
Google developed this app in hopes of becoming the default way for travelers to organize their trip information.
The app’s top competitor is TripIt, the travel planning app from business-expense company Concor. With a $49 per year premium service, you can track your reward points and alerts you when a better seat becomes available on your flight. Trips is far less geared toward business travels but what it lacks in pro-travel features, makes up with useful city guides that leverage the wide range of Google services.
Trips requires that you login using your Gmail accounts. Once you login, Trips shows you a list of your upcoming and previously completed Trips.
The heart of the app is Things to Do. Trips builds custom itineraries based on how long you’ll be in town and popular destinations. You can select a general itinerary like “72 hours in Paris” or search guides focusing on shopping, museums and more.
New Updates
Earlier this week, this app got a few new features that’ll make it even more useful.
Trips will automatically pull up all purchased train and bus tickets sent to your Gmail account. The app collates all of your flight and hotel info, so this announcement makes the app’s overview far more comprehensive.
Google added the option to manually add reservations, which is useful for any reservations or tickets the app hasn’t picked up. (Yes, even computers make mistakes)