Key Points:

• Google's AI Mode can now show award prices alongside flight searches for a limited set of airlines and hotels, plus complete hotel bookings without leaving Google.
• The rollout puts basic award search in front of over a billion monthly AI Mode users, but it currently lacks major carriers and doesn't compare cash versus points value.
• Points-focused travelers should keep using dedicated tools like Points Path for real redemption decisions and treat Google's version as a convenience layer, not a replacement.

Google Just Put Award Prices Inside Search

Google is putting airline and hotel award prices directly into AI Mode in Search, so asking for nonstop award options between two cities returns flight choices with loyalty program prices and taxes, lets you pick your dates, and sends you to the airline to book. Google has said AI Mode has more than one billion monthly users, so even a basic version of award search is about to reach a far bigger audience than any points blog or extension ever has, including our own guide to award search extensions.

The catch: coverage is thin at launch.

• The initial airline partners are Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and American Airlines, while the initial hotel partners are Choice Hotels, Hilton, and Wyndham.
• Google says Accor, Flying Blue, Hyatt, LATAM Airlines, and Lufthansa Group are coming in the following weeks, but Delta, United, JetBlue, Southwest, Marriott, and IHG are still missing.
• Google describes the data as coming from its partners directly but stops short of guaranteeing every result is pulled live.

If you fly Delta or United primarily, this update does nothing for you yet. Our Delta SkyMiles sweet spots guide is still your best bet for finding value there.

Two More Travel Features Landed at the Same Time

Google didn't stop at award search. It also rolled the existing flight price-tracking tool into AI Mode: describe a trip and its constraints, confirm the route and dates, and Google emails you when the price moves, drawing on more than 300 airlines and booking sites across over 180 countries, though not the European Economic Area.

For hotels, the bigger shift is that you can now book without leaving the search page. Tell AI Mode your destination, budget, and priorities, and it returns a visual list with reviews and a map; picking a participating chain or booking site lets you choose a room, review cancellation terms, and pay with Google Pay while staying inside Google. The hotel or booking site remains the merchant of record and still owns the reservation and customer service, with Google simply passing the booking through. Booking.com, Choice, Expedia, Hilton, Hotels.com, IHG, Marriott, Priceline, Trip.com, and Wyndham are all part of the initial U.S. rollout.

One detail worth flagging for points readers: Google's demo doesn't include a field for entering your loyalty number, even though booking direct with a hotel brand instead of through an OTA is usually what earns points and elite credit. If you use this feature, double-check you're booking the brand's own channel and manually confirm your loyalty number gets attached, or you could lose earning entirely. A card like the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire can also net you automatic Diamond status on direct Hilton bookings, which is one more reason to skip the OTA detour entirely.

Why Points Path Still Wins for Real Redemption Decisions

If you already use Points Path or a similar award search extension, don't uninstall it yet. Points Path's core advantage is showing award prices next to cash prices for the same flight inside Google Flights, telling you whether points or cash is the better deal, and surfacing which loyalty programs and transfer partners can book that seat.

Google's new AI Mode search is missing several things a serious points strategy depends on:

• The cash fare shown next to the award price, so you can judge if the redemption is actually good value
• Other loyalty programs that could book the same flight for fewer points or better availability
• Transfer partners and active transfer bonuses, which our guide to transferable points currencies breaks down in full
• Your actual point balances, elite status, or cardholder discounts on awards
• Flexible-date award calendars or price-drop alerts for awards specifically

Points Path's free version already covers Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, and United, and paid plans extend that to 17 airline programs with award alerts, a seven-day calendar, and custom point valuations. Google's version works for one program and one set of dates at a time. For casual travelers who've never heard of Points Path, that's still a huge upgrade. For anyone optimizing a redemption, it's not a replacement. If you're building a transferable points balance to take advantage of tools like this, the Chase Sapphire Preferred remains one of the easiest ways to start earning Ultimate Rewards points that transfer to several of the airline programs Google now covers.

What This Actually Means for You

Treat this rollout as a discovery tool, not a decision tool. Use Google AI Mode to get a quick sense of whether an award even exists on your route with Alaska, Hawaiian, American, or the participating hotel chains. Then run the real comparison through Points Path or your usual award search extension before you commit any points. And if you book a hotel through AI Mode's checkout, book the brand directly, not an OTA, and confirm your loyalty number is attached before you pay.

Google has tried this before. It launched a nearly identical merchant setup with Book on Google back in 2015 and shut it down in 2022 because too few consumers and partners adopted it. Whether staying inside a Google conversation and paying with saved Google Pay details solves that problem this time is still an open question, and it's one reason to keep both tools in your toolkit rather than betting everything on Google's version.

Bottom Line

Google just made basic award search visible to over a billion people who've never optimized a redemption in their life, and that's genuinely good for the points and miles hobby. But the coverage gaps and missing decision-making tools mean it's a starting point, not the finish line, for anyone reading this site. Keep using dedicated award search tools for your actual bookings, and watch this space as Delta, United, Marriott, and IHG likely get added in the coming months.

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