People are increasingly using AI every day; it is seen as the next technological breakthrough with a significant impact on our lives. Some people are worried it might replace their jobs, while others embrace the new technology as a helpful aid.
I am quite happy to use AI to suggest a recipe for dinner or help me find the name of a dish I can’t remember.
I even asked AI about a medical issue after a hospital doctor wasn’t listening to what I said. After doing the exercise, the AI suggested things improved fast. I would, however, always recommend going to a doctor rather than taking AI advice. However, in this case, the doctor appeared more robotic and paid no attention to what I said than a real robot would. Despite my positive experience with an AI, I still question whether you should trust an AI to plan your holiday.
What AI can do
I wanted to know what AI could do to help me with holiday planning, so of course, I asked AI. It claimed it could do almost everything. However, it sounded like standard travel agent advertising, claiming it could do everything better and perfectly answer my needs.
AI says it can choose a destination, based on my needs, budget and weather requirements. Search for the cheapest flights and accommodation, and notify me if the price drops. It will advise me on the best accommodation to suit my preferences and price range. Plan my itinerary, recommend restaurants, and help on the go with translation and maps.
I then asked the AI if it could book the holiday for me if I gave it my bank details. It said it couldn’t pay or book anything, but would advise me on how to book safely on trusted websites, help me through the booking process, and spot scams.
It did seem an excellent tool, but from experience, I knew it isn’t perfect.
How many use AI to plan holidays?
Last year, only 4% of people used AI to help with holiday planning. This year it is 8%. So the number has doubled, but the favourite method for planning is still a general internet search. About 46% use this method.
41% of people ask their friends and relatives, and 36% use travel websites and travel books.
At present, less than a fifth of people in a recent survey said they would be happy to hand over the planning or booking of their holiday to AI. However, a growing number of people use AI as one of their tools to plan a holiday.
Problems with AI
Anyone who has been using AI for a while will know that it makes mistakes. The problem is that it gets its information by looking across the web, and often the information is outdated. It also jumps to conclusions that aren’t based on fact.
Last weekend, my husband asked AI whether the Tesco travel bureau was open on a Sunday, and it said no. I looked up the local Tesco website, which said it was open, and went there and got some currency.
Another time, I asked an AI the entry fee to a national reserve in Kenya.
The information it gave me didn’t seem right, so I asked about a court hearing over the new price, which I knew of. AI told me I was right, and its information was out of date. I decided not to trust the AI to give me the correct new price.
It is all very well asking AI to plan a holiday route for you, but if you are given outdated information, your whole holiday can fall apart.
My friend
When I first started using AI, I referred to it as “my friend”. I would ask “my friend” any question I needed answering. Then, over time, I got to know my friend better and realised they aren’t perfect.
When I was at college, there was a person in one of my classes who had brain damage when born. They didn’t know how to interact with others, but they could recall any facts they read; they had a photographic memory. This meant they would talk about a point they found interesting at inappropriate times or in inappropriate situations.
I think of AI a bit like this person. They know loads of facts but don’t know how to use them properly. AI has had good instructions on how to be polite and encouraging. However, it is so willing to please that it is like a friend who will make things up that it doesn’t know. In the AI case, it doesn’t seem that good at fact-checking.
My test
I decided it would be a good idea to test out the AI’s ability to help me for part of my next holiday. I decided to use it to plan which clothes to take for winter in China.
It proved to be very useful. It gave me a list of suggestions that was very similar to my own list, but I had forgotten that I would not have my warm coat on when I am inside a building, so I might still need a warm jumper, rather than relying on my super warm coat.
I then asked AI to plan a four-day trip to London in December. I know London and what it has to offer. I found its plan to be good when I asked for a low-budget option, but when I increased the price, it suggested places I am not interested in, such as Madame Tussauds and the Sea Life Centre. It did suggest looking into a city pass, and I was impressed that it said to check whether buying tickets individually was cheaper.
If you want the perfect plan, you have to give the AI a lot of information so it can understand your requirements.
Finally, I asked the AI if I could add a trip to Edinburgh to my 4-day break. Its answer was technically yes, but it would be rushed. The AI answer was correct, but I feel that if you asked a local, they would say you are wasting too much time while travelling. Don’t bother.
AI, on the other hand, provided instructions on how to do it and made it seem more reasonable. Yes, you can do it, but I think it would be an endurance test if you include lots of sightseeing. You also won’t see much of each city. Unless you just want to tick a box that you have been there, it will be pointless. Go another time when you can appreciate both cities.
What AI thinks
For fun, I asked AI if you should trust an AI to plan your holiday. It said you can trust it to save time, find deals, create itineraries, handle logistics, and personalization.
However, it did say it lacks contextual judgment, including local holidays, safety concerns, and cultural nuances. It also says it can give outdated or inaccurate information, has no firsthand experience, and can’t help solve real-time problems, such as rebooking a flight when it’s cancelled.
It does suggest AI is best used for generating ideas and early research. You should also cross-check everything and customise it with your own research.
The future of AI
It is predicted that in the next five to ten years, we will have AI travel agents similar to human ones, which will be faster and cheaper. AI will be able to book flights and hotels and provide real-time assistance.
However, there is currently no fully integrated, automated system for booking holidays using AI. AI does not have permission to access your bank or make payments. It will be interesting to see how the law would cope with liability if something goes wrong.
I am not sure how many people would trust AI to book a holiday without human oversight. However, I could see people booking a weekend away with an AI travel agent if the break was cheap.
When we first started shopping online for food, some silly mistakes were made, such as giving us cat food instead of toilet paper (we don’t have a cat). Over time, it improved, and AI will do the same. It will, however, take a lot of trust to let an AI handle our money or make full decisions on a major vacation.
Are all AIs the same
Not all AIs are the same. You can get general-purpose AIs like ChatGPT or Google Gemini. They can provide information about the whole trip and personalise your travel plans.
Other AIs, such as Trip Planner AI and Kayak AI, are designed for travel. However, these AIs can have limitations. They don’t personalise travel for your preferences; they can limit their results to their partners, so you don’t see the full choice, and they are functional with little flexibility and sometimes miss things that need to be taken into account, such as transport delays or jet lag.
General AIs are good for creativity, general planning, deciding where to go, and predicting the weather. Travel-specific AIs are well-suited for logistics, as they offer real-time booking and price alerts. In time, these two types of AI will probably merge, giving a hybrid AI that is creative, friendly and up-to-date.
Summary
I do wonder whether anyone will read holiday blogs in the future, given that an AI can so easily provide information. However, I have confidence that some people will prefer blogs from real people with real experiences. Do you think an AI will point out that there are no toilets at an attraction, or that you might get curry for breakfast every day? I love curry, but not every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Most people have used chat boxes and got frustrated at some point. AI can do a good job of providing holiday information, but it is not perfect.
However, people aren’t perfect either. I have seen articles with incorrect information. People give wrong advice, which is outdated or based on a short visit. A person might say there are coffee makers in the hotel room when, in reality, there are only a few rooms that have them.
AI can be good at sorting through a lot of information and is becoming an excellent tool for planning holidays, but, as the AI said, it does need to be checked.
AI can offer ideas for places to visit that you might never have considered and remind you of things you might have forgotten.
I use AI to answer some of my questions while I am planning my holiday. I use it to narrow down the information. It is excellent—going through vast amounts of information and finding what I need —but I double-check any results.
Would I ever let it plan a whole holiday? Probably not. It would have to have a vast amount of information on me to know exactly what I like. When I have talked to travel agents, they sometimes offer tours which has little to interest me. I could tell an AI that I don’t drink, so I don’t want to spend a morning looking at a vineyard, and an afternoon looking at shops has no appeal to me. If I tell it I am interested in local culture, will it end up sending me to every available temple, as that isn’t what I want either. I like to choose what I see. Sometimes it will be the main tourist sights, but sometimes, if I have seen something similar, I will avoid it.
I will use AI to plan holidays, but only as a tool to assist me. I will still be in control. It will take a long time—probably never—before I believe AI can fully understand what I like to see, how I prefer to travel, or which hotels suit me. I think I can do a much better job.
They can, however, provide me with all the options.
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