14 DAY TRIAL // Google has launched a new, experimental feature on Google Maps, which lists hotel prices for related searches. It is only available to a handful of people and the information is rather limited at the moment, but, after a testing period, Google plans to expand it further. Once the feature is mature enough to be introduced at a wider scale, it should come in rather handy when planning a trip.
"With this feature, when you search for hotels on Google Maps you'll be able to enter the dates you plan to stay and see real prices on selected listings. You can click on the price to see a list of advertisers who have provided pricing information for that hotel, indicated by the ‘Sponsored’ text, and click through to reserve a room on the advertiser’s site," Andrew Silverman, product manager at Google Maps, wrote.
"By showing you this relevant hotel rate information directly in the Google Maps results panel we hope to make this aspect of your trip planning more speedy and efficient – so you can get where you're going and enjoy your travel destination," he added.
The feature is in very early testing, so chances are you're not going to get it in Google Maps, especially if you live outside the US. Even if you're one of the lucky few, Google has signed with just a few partners, so there might not be that many results at this point.
The new pricing information doesn't actually alter the search rankings on Google Maps, it just adds the additional data on top of the existing list. The search engine looks at a bunch of different data points for the rankings, relevance to the query, and the distance from where you want to be, but the price doesn't play a role. It's unknown if this will change once the feature is available to all.