Are you using AI / ChatGPT for travel planning and while travelling?

[goldenhorn]

I'm using AI almost exclusively now for travel planning and also planning on the ground while travelling, and I'm curious if others are seeing the same potential.

AI has completely transformed how I create travel itineraries. Instead of spending hours researching, I'm now feeding tools like ChatGPT and Claude some basic parameters about my trip duration, interests, and the type of holiday I'm after. The output is incredibly tailored, well-researched itineraries that hit exactly what I'm looking for. It's like having a travel consultant who actually gets me.

For instance, during our recent trip to the Loire Valley, I had to navigate French-based websites to book luggage transfer services between villages and arrange for the delivery and pickup of our e-bikes. Chat GPT told me precisely what to do, where to book, and summarised the best service providers based on the reviews.

As a result, the trip went without a single hitch. It's saved me hours and hours of research and time.

I'm ditching traditional review sites like Google and TripAdvisor, opting instead for AI-driven, on-the-ground recommendations, like our recent trip to the Loire Valley. We were heading to Château de Chenonceau, and we checked into our hotel near the château in the afternoon. ChatGPT suggested something counterintuitive - wait until 9 am the next morning instead of going immediately. The reasoning? Beat the crowds.

As a result, we were the fifth people through the gate and essentially had the entire chateau to ourselves for a solid 30-60 minutes. It was an incredible experience, and we got amazing photos as a result. Within 2 hours, the place was swamped with tourists.

I've now set up a dedicated AI travel project in Claude. I've created custom instructions that enable it to understand my loyalty program memberships, such as Accor Platinum and Hilton Gold, recognise my hotel preferences, including a preference for hotels with executive lounges, track point redemption strategies, and assist in researching complex travel routing.

I'm seeing this as just the beginning. These tools are rapidly evolving from information sources to actual travel agents.

Who else is experimenting with AI in their travel planning? What's worked for you? What hasn't? Are you seeing the same potential, or am I getting ahead of myself?

 

[Pushka]

Worked pretty well for Japan but you need to be very specific in your instructions. Sadly they are very much limiting the queries with the Free version in recent times. ChatGPT. Husband tried Claude but as he uses it for work the security wasn't good enough.

 

[goldenhorn]

Worked pretty well for Japan but you need to be very specific in your instructions. Sadly they are very much limiting the queries with the Free version in recent times. ChatGPT. Husband tried Claude but as he uses it for work the security wasn't good enough.

Yeah, there are limitations to the free plan. Honestly, for $20 - $30 a month, the value I'm getting from ChatGPT and Claude is phenomenal. So it's money well spent.

Another benefit of the paid plan is that you can set up a custom GPT in ChatGPT. This allows you to provide all your specific instructions and preferences upfront, reducing the need for additional instructions each time.

 

[blackcat20]

I use it for looking for the best price for flights. I also use it to find discount codes if I need to buy something online. Havent used it for travel planning as we arent really doing those sorts of trips at the moment.

 

[StayGoldPonyboy]

Just wondering, did you use AI to write the first post? To me it has the classic AI cadence.

 

[exceladdict]

As we briefly discuss in another thread I have been using Claude for a coding project but have only just started scratching the surface for travel planning - I also like the ability to set up a project and remember things.

Hopefully Claude will be very helpful for my potential Africa trip.

 

[goldenhorn]

As we briefly discuss in another thread I have been using Claude for a coding project but have only just started scratching the surface for travel planning - I also like the ability to set up a project and remember things.

Hopefully Claude will be very helpful for my potential Africa trip.

I love Claude projects. I've got about 14 at the moment. In addition to the travel agent and points hacking advice, I have one for vet advice and all my dog's health information. I have a fitness one that's tracking my weight and increasing my fitness goals. I have a business coach. I have one supporting my parents as they navigate the aged care system. I also have one dedicated to my own health. I have a personal therapist, one that creates meal plans for the week over, a copywriting one, a transcriber...the list goes on. The uses are endless.

 

[goldenhorn]

Just wondering, did you use AI to write the first post? To me it has the classic AI cadence.

Yes, I did. Sometimes for longer posts, I use it to quickly write the post and put all my ideas into the post. I just dictate to it what I want it to say and then give it the tone. That one didn't sound exactly like me, but it wasn't too bad. You generally have to remove the hype.

Other times, I just dictate using an AI dictation tool, but it doesn't send the information to the cloud. It just lives locally on your computer. So the information remains private. I'm using a Mac tool called VoiceInk. That's how I'm responding to you right now. I'm kind of hardly ever typing these days.

If you really want to go deep, you can create a custom GPT that will write exactly like you with the same tone, cadence, sense of humour and everything. I haven't gone that far yet, but might create one if I can find the time.

 

[Himeno]

I have no reason to or interest in using AI.

 

[dajop]

My theory is take advantage of it while you can. It feels like google searches back in the days before excessive commercialisation. Once they start to properly monetise it with paid promotions influencing the results, it will be more difficult to get useful relatively neutral advise from (or am I being too cynical?).

 

[ellen10]

Wow this is interesting stuff!

 

[goldenhorn]

My theory is take advantage of it while you can. It feels like google searches back in the days before excessive commercialisation. Once they start to properly monetise it with paid promotions influencing the results, it will be more difficult to get useful relatively neutral advise from (or am I being too cynical?).

I don't think you're being too cynical. They'll need to find a way to monetise the AI results by incorporating ads. So you're probably right. This might be the golden days.

 

[Seat0B]

I used it (free Chat GPT) to devise a great road trip itinerary for Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar in late 2024 and it was really good once I worked out how to include more info in the initial prompt rather than drip feeding it. I put in details like our interests, preferred driving time each day, rest intervals, hotel preferences (costs, locations, chains) etc and it gave a really enjoyable itinerary. It even suggested things I did not ask - where to refuel for cheaper fuel, traveller ratings of different road rest stops etc. at the end I though to ask it for “secret spots” “less travelled” or “off the beaten track” and that is how we got Elvas, Portugal, which was an absolute gem. I will use it again for planning trips like this.

Edit : typos - actually cough autocorrects that I did not notice.

 

[Tiki]

I used free Chat GPT to get information about ground and ferry transport in the Moluccas which wasn't easy to find on Google. It was pretty accurate. It was also good for birding advice, when to go, what time, how to get there.

 

[Aeryn]

SMH had a article about this today: OpenAI unveils AI browser that can do your shopping

 

[Warks]

Yes I mentioned it the other day I was using it in the early stages of planning but only at the level of "design a two week itinerary for Portugal and Madeira" or the like. It does come back with a pretty comprehensive plan which you can then take to the next level of planning. I've also asked it for a route from Tallinn to Istanbul via the old Iron Curtain countries and it was also pretty handy. I haven't done much more than this so far.

 

[aspro2]

I think the description of the various good uses for AI have been very interesting. I haven't used AI for this so far, but do a number of other complex research/explanation tasks with AI from time to time and *almost always* encounter significant errors. So, I think it'd be great if people added hints about any errors they encounter while using AI for travel planning (or once underway!).

Actually, I'll mention that I did once use ChatGPT after it was able to interface with Google Flights. It was fundamentally incompetent at listing routes/connections reliably, creating phantom routes for airlines and even repeating this after explicit correction from me. Now, this was over twelve months ago, so I'm guessing things have improved.

 

[Happy Dude]

Here's a couple of screenshots by some git (US based) on FB regarding using AI to get cheap tickets and travel itineraries. Some of the queries are interesting, #3 in the first one for eg.

 

[elanshin]

I used it recently to shortlist our upcoming Europe trip and it also formatted a nice table for various options to compare the various cities for my partner with a focus on being foodies.

I also find it a very useful tool to come up with a bunch of suggestions which I'll fact check. It's a great time saver to get started and then you manually refine it. I think its when you blindly fully trust it that you'll potentially run into issues.

 

[Aeryn]

Only an American would consider flying from another airport within 100 miles (160km) as a reasonable alternative!