There are exceptions, the biggest one being China. A lot of Google’s information is wildly inaccurate or outdated, which makes sense, as the company is blocked in China. So when you’re looking for a restaurant, for example, you’ll want to use an app like Dianping, which is far more current.

My experience is that there isn’t a ton of difference between the various online travel agencies as far as finding hotels and flights. It happens sometimes, but it’s rare to look up a flight on Priceline and then find the price is wildly different on Expedia. For hotels, pick one site — one that allows you to collect points or status, ideally, and stick with it.

In general, I favor Google products because I value speed, and they tend to be pretty reliable. Google Flights is extremely useful for finding different routes for itineraries, and I’ll literally spend hours on it when I’m planning a longer trip. One nice feature is that it will warn you if it thinks a price hike on a flight is imminent, say within the next several hours. ITA Software is a flight search tool that’s more complicated then 95 percent of the population needs, but is useful if you want very particular parameters on your flights (length of stopovers, routing through specific cities, etc.).