Redmond, Washington — Microsoft has fired every bullet out in every direction to create a search engine that can battle Google, and ultimately the software maker last month rolled out Bing, the company’s rival to Google. And now, along with Bing the company has also launched Bing Travel engine, ready to help you globe-trot. Microsoft says, “[Bing Travel] will help consumers make smart travel decisions through a variety of innovative tools and features.”
Bing Travel is the new Decision Engine offered by Microsoft bundled with killer features for Bing, which aims to help globe-toter easily find and book airfare and hotel accommodations for trips, normally a job that involves lots of hassle.
Bing Travel integrates the airfare and hotel tools Microsoft acquired with its purchase of Farecast along with the editorial content form MSN Travel. When you visit the bing.com/travel URL you are faced with a pretty standard trip planning page, in Bing’s attractive design wrapper, that is set to search for flight info as a default. You can also switch it to search for hotels using the same engine, or choose cars, cruises and vacations, but those last three are via sponsorship partner Orbitz.
Furthermore to search results, queries to Bing Travel returns direct links to tools that users can utilize to reserve flights, hotel rooms, and other travel products. For instance, a search for “San Diego hotels” delivers property availability and pricing information.
“Bing Travel has a simple goal: help people make smarter, more informed decisions regarding travel,” Bing Travel general manager Hugh Crean said in a statement. “Travelers face plenty of challenges — from airport security and luggage restrictions to finding their hotel in an unknown city or trying to speak a foreign language. Researching and booking travel should be easy, and now Bing is here to help.”
Bing Travel tools include a price predictor, rate indicator, travel deals for flight and hotel, comparison flight and hotel search, fare alerts and original travel editorial content.
Such functionality lies behind Microsoft’s branding of Bing as a “decision engine” rather than a search engine. Microsoft acquired many of the tools behind Bing Travel through its acquisition of online travel site Farecast. The software maker formally introduced the product last week and plans a major advertising campaign around it.
Microsoft is hoping to catch up to Google in search market share. But the company has its work cut out for it. Google presently controls about 64% of the U.S. search market, while Microsoft owns only about 8% of the market, according to researchers at ComScore. Yahoo, the No. 2 player, holds 21% of the market.