Google Destinations wants to be your smartphone's new travel agent

Google has introduced a new feature within its mobile Search app that lets users plan and book holidays. Google Destinations allows users to search for holiday spots from their smartphone and plan flights, accommodation and itinerary suited to their budget and interests.

From Google's Search app, users can type a place, country or continent into the text box followed by the word "destination" or "holiday". From there, Google will offer a list of top holidaying spots and real-time costs. From a drop down filter, users can enter the dates they wish to go away, how many are travelling and the amount they're willing to spend on the trip, in addition to selecting from a range of interests like skiing, sailing, hiking and culture. It will then offer up a list of itineraries from other travellers, pulled from the masses of online holidays guides and reviews.

Once they've made their choice, the app will display rates for flights and hotels pulled from its Google Flights and Hotel search algorithms. If holidaymakers don't have a set date in mind, Destinations offers a flexible date filter that will compare flight and accommodation across days, weeks or even months to show users when is cheapest to travel.

Android owners will know that Google's mobile app is already pretty smart at determining where we are, what we're doing and where we need to be. If done correctly, Destinations may allow us to circumvent the ocean of holiday comparison websites jostling for space on the web and instead handle every aspect of our hard-earned hols from the palm of our hand.