Google has a new feature that can save you real money on hotels: hotel price tracking at the individual property level.
You could already track hotel prices at the city level. Search "hotels in San Diego," turn on price tracking, and Google would email you when prices dropped significantly across the city based on your search dates.
That's useful. But it's broad. You'd get alerts for hotels you don't actually want to stay at.
Now you can track a specific hotel.
How It Works
Pick your dates and search for a specific property — say, the DoubleTree by Hilton in San Diego. Toggle on price tracking for that hotel. If the price drops, Google emails you.
That's it. No manual checking of rates every couple of days.
The Catch
The price it's tracking is both the direct booking rate from the hotel's official website and the third-party rate from an OTA.
That matters.
If the price drops on Expedia but the direct rate stays the same, you'd want to know which one you're getting alerted about because booking direct usually means better cancellation terms, loyalty points, and elite night credits.
I'd love to see Google add a filter for this in the future. For now, when the alert comes in, verify the price on the hotel's official website before you book.
You can read more about Google Travel updates here:
https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/summer-travel-tips-google-search-ai/
