• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 3, 2023

Airports are expecting a surge in travel this summer. Passports are taking longer to process, and the FAA warns to brace for a shortage of traffic controllers. Despite what might seem like chaos, Google and Microsoft are gearing up for the season with new features and guarantees for consumers.

Google began piloting a “price guarantee” badge for flights, which tells the consumers the company does not believe the amount to take the trip will get any lower.

“We’ll monitor the price every day until departure, and if it does go down, we’ll send you back the difference via Google Pay,” Richard Holden, vice president of travel products at Google, wrote in a post.

Holden wrote that during the pilot, price guarantees are only available for Book on Google itineraries that depart from the United States.

The company on Monday also announced three search features to make it easier for users to research hotels, book airline travel, and discover things to do while they are on vacation.

A new way to browse and discover hotels on mobile allows users to search for items such as “Jackson Hole hotels” and tap to view more. A new option enables users to explore each property with a swipe in a story format.

The features allow those searching to save information about the hotel, pull up more details about the area, or view a summary of what people find notable about the property.

Half of consumers in a Booking.com survey still consider investing in a vacation as a top priority for how they spend their money in 2023, and nearly 65% of travelers plan to keep a close eye on deals.

Microsoft Advertising estimates 2023 will become a big year for travel, but consumers are more price-conscious than in past years, with inflation and labor shortages on the rise. The cost of travel has increased year over year (YoY), too, but that doesn’t mean consumers aren’t interested anymore.

Turns out that consumers are searching earlier and more frequently this year, looking for deals. Microsoft Advertising has seen an increase of more than 103% year-over-year (YoY) for travel searches containing the word “cheap” and an increase of more than 165% YoY for “deals.” Airlines, hotels, cruises, and car rentals were all included, showing that consumers want to save in multiple ways for upcoming vacations.

Consumers are searching for deals earlier, with 61% of recently surveyed consumers saying they will plan for vacations further in advance this year than in the past. But this has led to a decline in last-minute travel, according to Microsoft Advertising.

People have become more flexible with vacation planning to save money, with 50% of consumers agreeing to travel in the off-season if it saves them money. Microsoft Advertising has seen an 11% decrease YoY in searches and 17% YoY in clicks related to last-minute travel in 2023.

One interesting note, as gas prices continue to rise, online activity for public transportation has increased on Microsoft Advertising.

Consumers are frequently looking up alternative methods to car rentals, which have seen a 6% decline YoY in clicks in 2023. Instead, consumers are searching for more budget friendly options like Bus & Rail Services, up 15% YoY in clicks; and Ridesharing, up 101% YoY in clicks.