Microsoft’s Bing Travel features airfare & hotel tools plus expert editorial content

When it comes to searching the web, Google still rules. Microsoft is not content about this though, and now it has recently launched its search engine simply named “Bing” (www.bing.com) to compete with Google.

The first thing site visitors would notice is the visually attractive home page background with a featured random photo from all over the world (Las Vegas cityscape, New Zealand ocean view, etc.) as opposed to the simple and no-frills Google search page.

Bing.com homepage features attractive random photos

A screenshot of the Bing search engine homepage showing a New Zealand ocean top view as background

It’s Las Vegas at night when I opened the Bing homepage few hours later

Bing Travel as an enhanced search engine for travel planning

Microsoft presents Bing as an enhanced search engine that helps users make faster decisions. One of its highlighted features is Bing Travel (www.bing.com/travel), which is a combination of Farecast’s travel tools (airfare and hotel bookings) and MSN Travel’s editorial content.

The Bing Travel homepage showing its travel booking tools

According to Hugh Crean, the General Manager of Bing Travel, the following are some of its innovative features and tools:

Price Predictor: When you search for a flight, you’ll see the technology that Bing Travel uses to analyze more than 175 billion airfare observations and predict whether the price of a flight is going up or down and when you should buy that airfare. Not only is the site faster than ever, but we’ve re-designed the experience to let you customize your results to include just the flights you want.

Instant Answers: When you search for a hotel in Las Vegas or many other cities, you’ll see a list of the best properties right within the search results. And the Rate Indicator will help you determine if you’re getting a deal on your room.

Flight Status: Need to know whether your flight is on time? Just type the airline and flight number into the search box, and you’ll get up-to-date information right in your results. And Bing saves you time, too: You can search for “Alaska flight 15” or just type “AS 15” and get the info even faster!

Phone Number Search: If you ever need to get in touch with a customer service representative for your favorite airline, let Bing point the way to the right phone number. Just type “JetBlue” in the search box, for example, and you’ll immediately see that you can reach customer service at 800-538-2583.

Expert Editorial Content: Bing Travel also features exclusive editorial content from some of the world’s biggest names in travel, including Peter Greenberg and Pauline Frommer, and licenses content from leading publications such as Travel + Leisure, Budget Travel and The Wall Street Journal. Our editorial experts inspire travelers to find new destinations and provide tips to help you have easier trips.

Sounds promising, right? Bing Travel is publicized by Microsoft as a Decision Engine to help travelers plan their holidays and trips better. Crean admits they’re “thinking of ways to improve Bing Travel,” and encourages ideas, comments and suggestions from users.