Google Search’s AI mode launched restaurant reservations in August, but the feature has been opt-in through the Labs flag until now. That changes today, with restaurant reservations via AI mode now rolling out to everyone in the US, along with event tickets and beauty and wellness appointments.
It works with partners like OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, Booksy, Fresha, and Vagaro. You just have to tell the AI mode what you want, including all your needs and preferences, and it will search across multiple platforms and websites to find real-time availability. You will get a curated list to choose from.
Especially for restaurant reservations, the AI mode can also make the booking for you. And agentic booking for event tickets and local appointments is available through Labs in the US. In future, AI mode will also book hotels and flights for you.
Talking about flights, flight deals are expanding to more than 200 countries globally. This tool of Google Flights was launched in America, Canada and India in August. It lets you describe where, when and how you want to travel, and uses AI to understand what you want and show you the “best deals available”. This seems to be a very useful tool if you are flexible with your dates, as it saves you from having to search through millions of different date combinations.
Finally, Canvas in AI mode now lets you “create travel plans customized to your specific needs.” If you tell the AI mode what type of trip you’re planning and what recommendations you’re looking for, you’ll have the option to create a canvas.
This will bring up real-time data on flights and hotels, photos and reviews from Google Maps, and “relevant information from sites across the web.” You’ll get suggestions that fit your criteria, including hotel comparisons (based on price and amenities), and restaurant and activity ideas customized according to travel time from where you’re staying.
You can ask follow-up questions and get help with options related to tradeoffs. And you can always go back to the AI mode history. Trip planning with Canvas is available on desktop in the US if you opt into the AI mode experiment in Labs.