The Seattle-based housing search leader announced Thursday that Zillow Rentals is now live as a connected app within Gemini and Gemini Spark.
Zillow is furthering its AI-assisted home search with a new Google Gemini integration that connects renters with apartment listings and tour availability.
The company announced Thursday that Zillow Rentals is now live as a connected app within Gemini, allowing renters to search for apartments with available tours on Zillow from within Google’s AI assistant. Renters can contact Gemini for properties matching their search, see available tour times, and click on Zillow to confirm reservations.
The move makes Zillow the only real estate platform in Gemini’s connected app ecosystem, the company said.
The launch focuses on rental and tour scheduling, rather than sales listings or AI search tools built directly into Zillow’s own website or app. Zillow said the Gemini integration is designed to shorten the journey from rental search to actual tour, with Gemini handling the conversation and Zillow powering property availability, infrastructure scheduling and the booking experience.
“Not all renters start their search the same way,” Michael Sherman, senior vice president of Zillow Rentals, said in a statement. “What matters is that when they’re ready to take that real next step, Zillow will be there for them, including inside one of the world’s largest AI assistants.”
Gemini’s announcement builds on Zillow’s other AI work, including the rollout of ChatGPT last year and the launch of “AI Mode” on Zillow.com and the Zillow app earlier this year.
Zillow says that once renters using Gemini connect their Google and Zillow accounts, their confirmed tours will appear in their Zillow itinerary. Instant Tour-enabled listings will have a “Book a Tour” option, while other properties will have a “Request a Tour” option.
The company said this experience will roll out to Gemini and Gemini Spark users in the coming weeks.
Rival home search sites have also been leaning heavily toward AI in recent months. Realtor.com began integrating ChatGPT in March and with RealAssist, an AI assistant built to streamline property searches and answer buyer questions, in June. CoStar’s Homes.com is also part of a broader portal push that uses AI to guide consumers through the home search process.
However, Zillow’s latest Gemini feature focuses on rental homes rather than condominiums, and is built within Zillow’s own website and app as well as within Google’s AI Assistant. Renters can search for apartments and tour times on Gemini, but bookings are still handled by Zillow.
The announcement also comes less than a month after Zillow pushed the idea that Google’s expansion of home listing ads posed an imminent threat to the company’s core business. In that case, Zillow explained that Google’s listing advertising model is closer to lead generation than Zillow’s broader transactional strategy.
Zillow told Inman that it considers the Gemini rental tool to be separate from Google’s expanded home listing ads. This rental tool focuses on connecting renters to Zillow’s rental inventory and tour booking infrastructure within one of the AI assistants that consumers may already be using.
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