Facebook Adds Travel-Planning Feature 'City Guides' Dennis Schaal - Skift
go to original March 10, 2017

City Guides Facebook App, suggests places & events, connects you to friends (Tech ka fever)

Facebook quietly launched a City Guides feature in the Facebook app that enables users to book some hotels and restaurants, and message or tap to call other hotels, restaurants, and tours and attractions.

Most of the venues that appear in Facebook’s destination-oriented guides had messaging and calling features when you viewed them but for some, such as the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and the Eliot Hotel in Boston, users could tap a Book Now button in the Facebook app and make reservations directly with the hotel.

There were also Book Now buttons for some restaurants, such as ROKA Charlotte Street restaurant in London, where dining reservations could be made through the Priceline Group’s OpenTable.

Consumers could already book an Uber, buy an Icelandair ticket, or converse with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration on the Facebook Messenger app, but now the Facebook app itself has added City Guides.

Facebook’s latest move into the travel ecosystem could be seen as a big challenge to Google, which launched its Google Trips app in September featuring “Things to do” and the ability to create “Day plans” in a given locale.

But unlike Facebook, Google Trips doesn’t feature any booking features — yet.

Facebook’s app update early this month added City Guides toward the bottom of a list of the app’s features. It shows you various cities around the world, such as Melbourne, Australia, and you can tap and view places in Melbourne, such as the Australian Open Tennis 2017 or the Hosier Lane Street art gallery, that your Facebook friends have visited.

...For those seeking everyday experiences, warts and all, in a destination, then the Facebook City Guides tool has a Places The Locals Go feature.

City Guides is Facebook’s way of getting into travel planning and, importantly, booking. It is more social than Google Trips, and similar in some ways to how TripAdvisor integrated your Facebook friends’ visits into its own destinations and hotel pages.

Read the rest at Skift

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