Recently, Google has noticed a significant growth in mobile travel traffic. This traffic includes visits to travel sites including hotels, airlines, and other travel information. Google has reported that 40% of total traffic to these travel sites is made up of mobile traffic. Because of this large shift in consumer behavior Google is introducing a range of new mobile hotel and flight search tools. These new tools are intended to respond to the mobile traffic growth and make it easier for users to navigate travel sites on their mobile devices.
One of these features includes Google’s new hotel filter. Google will now enable mobile users to filter hotel search results by price or rating. Google also announced that hotel search will respond to more precise queries such as “pet-friendly hotels in New York City under $300.”
Another new feature for mobile users is the new deal labels. Similar to a feature Google previously offered on desktop search results, mobile users will now also see new deal labels when a room rate is below traditional price levels. The company also has the option to supply “money saving hotel tips” which Google will then show people. Google may show these tips to people when they could save money or find better availability by moving their dates slightly. While searching for specific dates you may see a tip like “save $100 if you stay Tuesday- Friday.”
In addition to hotel sites, Google will now also offer airfare price tracking. Mobile users will be able to track fare changes on specific routes, airlines, and dates. Users who make these travel searches will then receive email alerts and Google Now notifications when prices increase or decrease.