Two weeks after launching a revamped hotel booking website, Google has expanded into vacation rentals space, with listings from partners including Expedia, HomeAway and TripAdvisor.

The tech giant revealed that the move would allow mobile users to book entire lodgings, with the emphasis on enabling travellers to make “fast, effortless decisions”.

“In the hotel search experience, you can surface vacation rental properties – be it a cabin in Lake Tahoe or a beach house in Sydney– by applying the vacation rentals filter or clicking on the vacation rentals tip,” Google’s travel product manager, Pratip Banerji, said in a blogpost dated March 26.

Vacation rentals, where one rents a house from an individual, are typically large multi-bedroom apartments or villas with ample space, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, full-sized kitchens and much more.

Vacation rentals – as an alternative to staying in a hotel room with limited personal space, lack of privacy and high costs are gaining popularity in India.

To check out the listings, would-be travellers can navigate to the hotel search page and filter for “vacation rentals,” or click on the vacation rentals tip to surface suggestions on where to stay in their intended destination.

One can narrow the search with price and amenity filters, plus browse photos, read reviews and see rates and availability of the vacation rental property. All property information and bookings are provided and done by the travel partner.

Google is currently only offering this service on mobile. However, it will expand the vacation rental filter to desktop next month.

First Published:Mar 29, 2019 1:09 PM IST