Google's AI Mode now tracks flights, spends your miles, and books hotels

Key points

• Google added flight price tracking to AI Mode in Search across more than 180 countries and territories, pulling live fares from over 300 airlines and travel sites.
• AI Mode can now show flight and hotel costs in points or miles, starting with Alaska/Hawaiian, American Airlines, Choice Hotels, Hilton, and Wyndham.
• Hotel booking inside AI Mode is rolling out in the United States in English, with Booking.com, Expedia, Marriott, IHG, Hotels.com, Priceline, and Trip.com among the partners.
• Payments run through Google Pay, but the hotel or booking site remains the merchant of record for refunds and customer service.
• Accor, Flying Blue, Hyatt, LATAM, and Lufthansa Group are set to join the points and miles feature in the coming weeks.

Google has quietly turned its Search chatbot into a travel agent. On Thursday the company announced three new travel features inside AI Mode, the conversational layer that sits on top of regular Google Search and answers questions in full sentences instead of a list of blue links.

Here is what changed, in plain English, and what it means for the money in your pocket.

What can AI Mode actually do now?

Three things: watch flight prices for you, show you what a trip costs in airline miles or hotel points, and book a hotel room without leaving the chat.

You describe your trip the way you would tell a friend. AI Mode pulls live fares from more than 300 partner airlines and booking sites, lays out options, and, if you ask, emails you when the price moves. Price tracking is live in over 180 countries.

For rewards, you can type something like "I want to fly Atlanta to Miami on my American Airlines miles, October 9 to 12." It comes back with how many miles each option costs, straight from the airline's own data.

Hotels work the same way. Tell it where and when, get a visual list with guest reviews, tap "Continue on Google" next to a partner, pick your room, and pay through Google Pay.

Which brands are in at launch?

The partner list matters, because features only work with companies that have plugged in.

If your loyalty program is not on the list, the miles feature will not help you yet. Ask your usual airline's app instead.

Who is really paying, and who handles a problem?

Google is not selling you the hotel room. The hotel chain or the booking site is the merchant of record, which is the legal term for the business that takes your money and owes you a refund if something goes wrong. Google Pay is just the checkout button.

That is worth knowing before you tap. If your room is dirty or your reservation vanishes, you call Marriott or Expedia, not Google. Screenshot your confirmation like you would with any online booking.

Is this actually useful, or is it a shiny demo?

Honest answer: price tracking is the piece most travelers will feel. Google Flights already did this well. Folding it into a conversation removes a step, and a saved step at 11pm on the sofa is a real win.

The miles feature is more interesting than it looks. Award pricing is famously opaque. If AI Mode reliably shows the real number of miles a seat costs across several programs in one query, it saves the tab-juggling that award travel usually requires. Big if, though. Early rollouts often miss the good redemptions.

Hotel booking inside a chatbot is convenient, but you are trusting Google's summary of a property over the full listing page. Read the cancellation policy before you confirm.

One doable takeaway: next time you are researching a trip, run the same search twice, once in AI Mode and once directly on the airline or hotel site. If the numbers match for a week, trust it. If they do not, you just saved yourself from a bad booking.