Discount travelers rejoice!  Google allows tablet users to monitor room rates with their Price Trends feature.

If you’re like me, you watch flight prices for months, waiting for a good deal.  I will even schedule a vacation starting on Tuesday if it has the cheapest flight.  But when it comes to hotels, I never know when to book.  Do I book right away in fear that I won’t find a place or wait to see if the price drops closer to check-in date?

With the Price Trends feature on tablet I can look ahead to see how the price for March compares to other dates. This feature is very reminiscent of the price graph that used to be available on desktop.  Do daily rates typically drop closer to check-in?  If so, when can I expect the drop in rates?  Is Monday the best rate or can I save a lot more by staying on Tuesday?  Are a lot of dates in March already booked up?

Looking at the monthly view, I can see two back-to-back weekends are already filled for March.  Makes sense since this particular hotel is close to a lot of ski resorts.  Also, I shouldn’t expect a huge drop in price if I wait a few weeks so might as well book now.

What will be interesting to watch for is how this new rollout affects not only the overall bidding landscape but also user behavior.  Currently tablet users only make up 10% of overall meta traffic.  Will this increase once users realize there’s an added bonus for using tablet?  I can’t speak for everyone but Google has gained at least one new tablet user.