Google Tests Hotel Prices in Google Maps
Mashable reports that Google is testing the display of hotel prices in Google Maps for "a small portion of users."
The data, which displays current hotel rates offered by popular online travel services, is described by Ben Parr at Mashable as "essentially ads, albeit useful ones."
I could certainly see myself using this feature. Not often, perhaps, but often enough that I'd be glad it's there. I'm usually disappointed with the proximity-based browsing on travel booking sites, but often when I travel the location of where I'm staying is very important to me.
Each summer, for example, I travel to Montreal for the Fantasia International Film Festival. I like to be close to the theatres, and for the last two years I've stayed in the same hotel. A feature like this, however, would make it much easier to browse rates of nearby hotels and see in context how close they are to the venues without toggling back and forth between Expedia (or Priceline, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.) and Google Maps to figure out just exactly where that hotel might be.
Sure, there's a limited number of applications for a feature like this in your life, but I'm sure it's something a lot of people would find useful at least once or twice a year. Google Maps is already great. I'd love to see more and more of these niche features developed to help make it even better.
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