How to Use AI to Plan a Trip in Minutes (and the Checks It Still Needs)
It booked a better deal in under a minute. It also sent a reporter to a volcano that's now a construction site.
At a glance
First step Give it the real constraints. Dates, budget, where you're leaving from, how much walking you want, and what you'd hate. The more specific, the better the draft.
Saves: Time comparing sites, and sometimes a little money · Tools: ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini
Example result A useful answer is a day-by-day plan with rough costs, a short list of flight and hotel options to compare, and a note of which details (hours, prices, closures) to confirm.
What to do
- Give it the real constraints. Dates, budget, where you're leaving from, how much walking you want, and what you'd hate. The more specific, the better the draft.
- Ask for a draft, not a booking. Ask for a day-by-day plan with rough costs and a few flight and hotel options to compare.
- Check every opening time. Look up hours, show schedules and closures on each place's own website. This is where the AI got it wrong in the CBS test.
- Book through sites you trust. Compare the AI's suggestions with an airline, hotel or booking site you already use, and book there yourself.
- Ask the second question. "What's the most likely thing to go wrong with this plan?" often surfaces tight connections, long drives or sold-out days.
The prompt
A prompt is the instructions you give the AI. Anything in [square brackets] is a blank for you to fill in. First time? Start here
Help me plan a trip to [destination] from [where I'm leaving] for [dates]. There are [number] of us; our budget is about [amount] including flights and hotel. We like [interests] and want to avoid [dislikes]. Give me a day-by-day plan with rough costs, three hotel options in different price ranges, and what to book first. List every opening time, show time or price I should double-check, and tell me the most likely thing to go wrong with this plan.
- Press Copy prompt.
- Open ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
- Paste it into the message box and fill in the [blanks].
Keep it private. Before you paste: leave out passwords, codes, and account, card, ID and policy numbers. Swap real names for "my mother" or "the company."
Don't share passport numbers, card details or loyalty-account passwords with a chatbot. You book; it plans.
What to check yourself
- AI travel answers can be out of date: attractions close, schedules change, prices move. Confirm on official sites before you go.
- Prices an AI quotes are estimates. The only price that counts is the one on the checkout page.
- Some AI travel tools ask to read your email or book for you. That's a bigger privacy decision. You don't need it to get a good plan.
What happenedThe story behind it
CBS News ran a head-to-head before the 2024 holidays. Correspondent Kris Van Cleave asked Google's Gemini app to plan a Las Vegas trip; colleague Nancy Chen spent about 45 minutes comparing deals on Expedia, Kayak and Tripadvisor. Gemini produced its plan in under a minute, and its flight plus three nights at a five-star hotel came to $741.48, against $780.05 for the trip planned by hand. CBS called the test unscientific.
Then came the itinerary. Gemini sent him to a botanical display that had been replaced, recommended morning fountain shows that don't exist, and pointed him to a volcano show at a resort where he found a construction site. It did pick a neighborhood and a dinner reservation the reporters liked. CBS's conclusion: AI still needs human supervision.
That's the right way to use it. Surveys suggest a lot of travelers already do: CBS cited one in which 41% of more than 2,000 consumers had recently used AI for travel ideas or itineraries. Let it do the drafting and comparing, then confirm anything with an opening time, a price or a date.
The verdict
A fast, cheap, confident travel agent who hasn't been to town since before the renovation.
Sources
How sure we are: Based on published reports and official advice. We haven't tested this one ourselves. What this means