Google Expands Ask Maps With Food and Hotel Booking

Google Maps is turning into more than a navigation app. On Thursday, Google announced that its AI chatbot feature inside Maps, called Ask Maps, is gaining new powers. Users can now order food, book hotels, and find event tickets, all by simply chatting with the app. This marks a big shift in how people may use Maps in their daily lives, turning it from a simple direction finder into a personal assistant.

Ask Maps first launched in March as a conversational AI tool built into Google Maps. Instead of typing short searches like “ramen near me,” users can ask full questions, such as finding a restaurant near a specific meeting time. With this update, the tool becomes what Google calls “agentic,” meaning it can take real actions for users, not just offer suggestions. This is the same direction many tech companies are pushing their AI tools toward this year.

For food ordering, users can describe exactly what they want, such as a vegan breakfast option near their home. Ask Maps will then find nearby restaurants that match and let users place an order through partner services. At launch, this works through payment platforms Square and Toast, with Uber Eats expected to join soon. Users still pick their final choice and finish checkout themselves, so the tool speeds up the search but does not fully automate ordering.

The hotel booking feature works in a similar conversational way. Users can describe details like budget, room type, or nearby attractions, even vague preferences like a hotel’s overall vibe. Ask Maps then compares prices, checks room availability, and shows a list of matching hotels in real time. From there, users click through to a partner booking site to complete their reservation.

Alongside these tools, Google is rolling out a feature called Personal Intelligence. This connects Ask Maps to a user’s Gmail and Google Calendar, letting the AI consider existing plans, such as flight times or dinner reservations, when making suggestions. If someone has a work trip booked through email, Ask Maps could suggest nearby hotels without needing that information typed in manually. The feature also lets Ask Maps remember earlier conversations, so users can pick up planning where they left off.

Other additions include a live transit widget showing real-time bus and train delays, and the ability to suggest local events like concerts or comedy shows, complete with ticket links. Users can also update details about businesses, like hours or parking tips, just by typing them into a conversation. These new agentic features are launching first in the United States, while Ask Maps itself is expanding to more countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico.

In short, Google is turning Google Maps into an AI assistant that can plan, book, and manage everyday tasks, not just show directions. The update reflects a wider trend of major tech companies building AI tools that act on users’ behalf. Whether people trust an AI chatbot to handle bookings and orders on its own will likely shape how quickly these features are adopted. For now, Google plans to expand the tools to more regions and platforms in the months ahead.