Can AI plan my vacation for me?

Can AI actually plan your vacation for you, or do you still need a human travel advisor? In this episode of Talk Travel to Me, host Kristy Ouellette tackles the viral trend of AI travel assistants, ChatGPT, and Claude head-on. She breaks down what AI tools actually do well (like packing list drafts and rough brainstorming) versus where they fail miserably—from recommending closed airport terminals to hallucinating express pass perks at theme parks. Kristy explains why real human expertise, industry relationships, emergency Extraction help, and true empathy remain irreplaceable when planning your dream trip.

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🎙️ Hosted by Kristy Ouellette
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Transcript

Intro [00:01]
Ready for your fast pass to the perfect vacation? This is Talk Travel to Me. Join host Kristy Ouellette and the Mickey Guru Travel Company team for one big travel question every episode. Solo insights or expert round tables all with a sprinkle of magic and the ultimate insider edge. Fasten your seatbelt, it's time to talk travel.

Kristy [00:26]
Hey Traveler, welcome back to Talk Travel to Me. I'm your host Kristy Ouellette and this week I'm answering the question, can AI actually plan my vacation for me? Let's talk about it. So why am I actually answering this question today where most travel advisors avoid this topic like the plague? Because if you've spent any time on the internet lately, and Lord knows I have, you've probably seen someone confidently declare that travel advisors are basically obsolete now. That as long as you have the right prompt, you don't need a human being involved in your vacation at all. And I'm going to be blunt with you, they're dead wrong. And I'm going to spend this episode telling you exactly why. And let's be real, this isn't just internet noise. In the last few weeks, searches for AI Travel Assistant and AI. Concierge are up 350% this year. AI travel planning hit an all-time search high back in January. People are actually planning their vacations this way right now, like today. It's also true that US travel agency sales represented approximately 26% of all vacations booked last year, representing more than $141 billion, that's with a B, in annual transaction volume. And when you're talking about cruises, it gets even better. Independent travel advisors continue to control the majority of cruise bookings, with over 70% of ocean cruise bookings and over 80% of river cruise bookings being done through travel advisors, rather than direct through the cruise line or other channels. Woop woop! Love that stat. And listen, I'm not here to dunk on AI. I use it too, for research, for drafting, for speeding up my own processes. This episode is about being honest on where the line actually is between what AI is generally helpful with and where you still very much need a human being at the helm. I also want to address the human element here. While it's not something individual people can do much about, this incredible AI boom is taking a real toll on our planet. and on the lives of both humans and animals. I don't have a solution for that today, and I'm not going to sit here and act like it doesn't matter, or pretend like I don't think about it, because I do. So consider this me naming it out loud before we move on. But it is part of why I still believe the human in this entire equation matters, and we'll come back to that idea before we're done today. Okay, I promise I'm not about to spend this whole episode dragging AI. It actually does do some things well, so let's give credit where credit is due first. It's decent at creating rough outlines or drafting like a starter packing list, that type of thing. And it can also be a fine jumping off point for someone who isn't quite sure what kind of vacation they want to take next. I have a lot of people that will come to me and say, I haven't been on a vacation in 15 years, I'm not even sure where I want to go, and ChatGPT or Claude. or Gemini, they can help you kind of answer that question, especially if. you use it a lot for other things and it has some knowledge about you. God, that part scares me. But that's something that it can be good at. Confession time. It involves both robots and my own brain, well, and about 12 years of experience that this brain happens to be running on. You know we provide full transparency around here, so I will fully admit that I use both Gemini and Claude as tools for my business. I use it mostly to help organize my thoughts as I create documents for my clients and my team of travel advisors. I am definitely not asking the bots to create theme park touring strategies or provide info on the difference between Oceanfront and Oceanview hotel rooms. These are the types of things I know stone cold and don't need any research for. I'm using the tools mostly to be sure that my thoughts are organized in a way that makes sense. You guys know if you've listened before that I am a raging ADHD girly and I do sometimes need the structure brought back to life. So I give it all kinds of information and say organize this in a. way that it makes sense to people that are going to read it. I'm always amazed though how often it tries to correct me or how it is so confidently and cheerfully wrong. Just a few examples I have to share with you. I asked it to create me a list of all of the attractions that use the Universal Express Pass. And it did a fair job. as I was reading through and then I saw a glaring issue. It said that Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure was on the Express Pass. It's not. It's been removed. I gave it a list of dining suggestions that I wanted to offer my clients who I know very well. I know the kind of food that they like and the kind of atmosphere they're looking for, the vibe. And all I did was say put it in a reasonable order and get me the links to the menus. Instead of just doing what I asked, it came back with a suggestion that I didn't need a dinner reservation. For a restaurant that absolutely requires one. And then as an alternative, it suggested a restaurant that isn't open for dinner at all. I literally. said, Sir Claude, do what I asked and nothing more. It also misunderstood a hotel's tier and went on to boast about the perks that a guest would receive for staying there. In a room category that doesn't even exist at that property. I literally, my wheels went crazy with that one. This is the kind of mistake that changes what a guest thinks they're paying for in a pretty significant way. My favorite, perhaps at least in recent memory, was when it suggested a client fly into an airport terminal that's been closed for construction for over a year. This was a whole thing that I kept going. I don't even understand because I can't even self-select what terminal my airplane is going to land in. So it giving me advice on this specific terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris was a wild output. Now, the real point here I'm trying to make is that I was able to catch these mistakes and many more because I routinely participate in ongoing education, personal meetings with reps for these destinations. I've also personally been to these theme parks, these hotels. I understand how the airline industry works and. I have relationships with these suppliers. A first time Disney parent asking chat GPT, what's the best Disney hotel at 11 p.m. has no way to know that they're getting bad info when it answers, highly recommend Portofino Bay. All right, now let's get into the stuff that isn't just about AI being wrong. This is about the stuff AI can't even do when it's right. First up, what happens when things actually go sideways on your trip? Earlier this week, we had a client who requires the use of a wheelchair to get around the theme parks. She'd made it to Orlando and realized she'd forgotten the footrest for her chair. She reached out to her agent, our very own Shalon, who stepped in and arranged for a wheelchair with all the necessary pieces and parts to be delivered right to her hotel. I'm also watching for price drops and aircraft swaps after you've already booked. This morning I found a bonus offer marketed just to professional travel advisors that saved a client $500 on their cruise. I got to send an email with the subject line, what would you do with an extra $500? Oh, and guess what? She upgraded her beverage package with that extra $500. So it was a win for sure. Next, let's talk about the doors that open when you've got the right relationships and doors that don't exist for a chatbot no matter how nicely you ask it. We have access to industry perks and bonuses through our consortia. We can get room upgrades, credits at resorts, early check-in, none of that that's available to the general public. Our agent, Jen Bauer, actually has a client sailing on a Royal Caribbean ship right now that enjoyed a complimentary specialty dining experience because of a perk of our agency's relationship with our consortia. We also have relationships with hotel general managers and have the ability to reach out and fix problems before you even know they exist. That's huge. And then there's the difference between what a listing says and what's actually true once you get there. Ocean view sometimes means ocean view only if you stand on a chair and I know which is which. I can also spot a staged influencer photo and a padded review from a mile away. And I will admit, I have a close relationship with an influencer, I used quotes for that, who posted a video talking about how great a particular hotel was, even though they told me offline how much they hated everything about it. Oof. I understand the difference between a trusted source like Disney Parks blog and something that has been created to specifically mislead people. And I'm looking at you, Mousetrap News. The amount of times that place tells people that the castle's being taken down during their vacation and wreak havoc with my clients is too many to mention. But AI doesn't know that. Guests with accessibility or dietary needs are handled with an actual phone call from one human to another to ensure that they have what they need to not only be safe, but also thoroughly enjoy their vacation. And finally, the part that's honestly the whole reason I do this job, I understand the very limited circumstances where a cruiser could skip a passport and rely on their birth certificate alone. Please, for the love of Mickey Mouse, don't do this. Get the passport. But if you insist on skipping it and therefore accepting the risks, I can tell you whether you qualify for this particular little loophole. or not. I also completely understand what a parent means when they say that their child needs a nap every day, but definitely won't sleep in a stroller. And I know the solution is not just skipping that nap time. Multifamily trips that include 16 people, four different budgets, four different mobility levels, and plenty of family drama. To just spice things up a bit, I manage all of it with grace because this is definitely not my first rodeo. So here's the actual heart of it, the thing under under everything. I've been doing this for 12 years, and that's not a stat I'm throwing out to sound impressive. That's the thousands of vacations I've cared about like they were my own. And I think that word care is kind of the whole thing. AI can certainly process and spit out information that is sometimes helpful about vacation destinations. It cannot care for you or your trip, and it can't advocate for you when something goes wrong. Back before I was a vacation planner, I spent years working in the field of early education and care. And if there's one thing that work taught me, it's how to read. what a person actually needs and not just what they're able to put into words. Truthfully, people rarely know how to ask for what they need when it comes to their vacations, especially if they've never been to the destination before. Think about it. Won't people take like what, one vacation a year? Maybe two. I plan hundreds of vacations every single year, and I'm out there traveling myself constantly too. So much so that my husband's like, are you going to be home at all this fall? So, of course, I can spot what a client needs before they even realize it themselves. And at least half of my job is reading between the lines. That is definitely not something any of the chat bots can handle. Even Sir Claude, bless his circuits, will tell you he can't do this part. He's a great research assistant, but he is not going to remember that your kid melts down after lunch or that this is the first vacation your family's taken since your dad passed, or that you're quietly trying to make your daughter's eighth birthday the best day of her entire life. I remember that stuff. I ask about. that stuff. That's the job of a professional travel advisor. So a chat bot can answer your questions, and sometimes it'll even get the answers right. A human advisor shows up for you before the trip, during the trip, and after you're home and telling everybody about it. And that is one more question unpacked. If you're ready to actually plan this thing with a real, live, caffeinated human who has walked thousands of miles through theme parks and sailed the seven seas enough times to know my forward from my aft without looking it up, reach out to us at mickeyguru.com. I promise to remember your kid's snack schedule, potty breaks, and the nap that saves a whole vacation just might be yours, right? Which is more than I could say for a chat bot. Unless your travel party is entirely made up of chat bots, I guess. Which, in case, if that's the case, no notes. You've got this handled. For the rest of you humans, come talk to us. Now, if you found this episode helpful, interesting, or at least mildly entertaining while you were out there getting in your steps today, go ahead, give yourself a. little pat on the back for getting your movement in, and then do me a favor, share this episode with a friend. Or heck, go ahead and drop the link into that Facebook group that you're in but you've never posted to. We all know the one. Next week I'll be answering the question, what does all inclusive actually include and what doesn't it? Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it. See you next week, traveler.

Outro [14:45]
Thanks for listening to Talk Travel to Me. We hope this episode cracked open inspiration for the treasures that await you at your next dream destination. If you love the show, please review, subscribe, and share it with a friend. At Mickey Guru Travel Company, we're your trusted guides for theme parks, cruises, resorts, and more. Visit our website at mickeyguru.com to learn more and book your vacation today.