Google launches app to help plan and personalise trips

Tech giant Google Inc. has launched Google Trips, a new app which will help travellers plan and personalise trips.

Google's new app helps the user personalise each trip with features such as day plans, reservations, things to-do, food & drinks.

The most striking feature is that large parts of the app can be used even when offline, once the user downloads the trip data.

"You might get recommendations from friends, professional travel guides, or online reviews — but figuring out how to squeeze everything you want to do into a finite window of time can be stressful, especially when you're at a new place, often with limited access to the web," Google said in a blog.

The free app, which is available both on iOS and Android, requires users to sign-in using their Google account after which it accesses their travel information and booking history. It will show both completed and upcoming trips.

Google says it has assembled the most popular sights, attractions and local gems into a full day's tour—all based on historic visits by other travellers—for 200 top cities of the world.

When users click at any destination, they will see colourful cards with options such as reservations, things to do, saved places and food & drinks.

The things-to-do feature allows users to see top spots, indoors, outdoors and child-friendly activities. It displays ratings, reviews and the working hours of those places. The food and drinks card provides information such as reviews and ratings of popular cafes, restaurants, bars and pubs. All the content on the app is user generated.

The app so far has more than 10,000 downloads on the Google Play Store. The integration between Google's user-sourced data and the offline use capabilities gives this app an edge over other existing travel apps.

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