Artificial intelligence has slipped into almost every corner of daily life, and holiday planning is no exception. From building itineraries to hunting for bargains, tools like ChatGPT promise to take the stress out of organising a trip. Used well, they can be a genuine time-saver. Used carelessly, they can create new problems entirely.
AI is best thought of as a helpful assistant rather than a travel expert. It can generate ideas quickly and structure your thinking, but it still needs human judgement layered on top. A recent BBC Travel article highlights the risks of letting AI plan trips end-to-end, showing how blind trust can backfire — from outdated information to reinforcing overcrowded destinations.
Where AI Can Be Genuinely Useful
Building first-draft itineraries
AI excels at creating a starting point. With a well-written prompt, it can pull together a logical, day-by-day outline that groups attractions sensibly and balances sightseeing with rest.
Ask something specific, such as:
“Create a five-day Rome itinerary focused on food, history and relaxed evenings”
You’ll usually get something workable within seconds. The danger comes from treating this as finished. AI doesn’t reliably account for real-world friction: opening hours change, seasonal closures happen, and travel times often look far shorter on paper than they feel on foot.
The safest approach is to treat the itinerary as a rough sketch. Check opening times on official sites, sanity-check distances on Google Maps, and adjust the pace to suit how you actually like to travel.
Managing jet lag and travel fatigue
One area where AI performs surprisingly well is jet lag planning. Because the science is relatively settled, AI can create tailored sleep and light-exposure schedules if you give it enough detail.
It can help you plan when to sleep, when to stay awake, and how to time meals, caffeine and exercise around your flights. This is far more useful than the generic advice most airline blogs offer, especially for long-haul or eastbound travel.
Finding small but real savings
AI isn’t great at finding cheap flights in real time, but it can be useful before you buy travel essentials. It often surfaces discount codes or promotions for things like luggage, travel insurance, adapters, SIM cards or eSIMs.
A quick question before checkout can sometimes knock a meaningful amount off the total. Even when it doesn’t, the cost is only a few seconds of effort.
Where AI Still Falls Short
Original inspiration
Ask AI a generic question about where to go on holiday in summer and you’ll usually get a familiar list of destinations. AI systems are trained on what is most visible online — reviews, blogs and social media — which naturally skews recommendations towards places that are already heavily visited. This risks reinforcing overtourism rather than encouraging discovery.
More unusual or less crowded destinations tend to appear only when travellers explicitly ask for them.
Live bookings and price comparisons
Despite how advanced it feels, AI struggles with anything that relies on constantly changing data. Flight prices, hotel availability and tour bookings shift by the minute, and many booking sites restrict access to their data.
AI is far better used to explain how to choose – which neighbourhoods suit your travel style, what makes a good hotel in a particular city – rather than trying to tell you the cheapest option right now. Dedicated tools like Google Flights or Skyscanner are still far more reliable for the final booking.
Hyper-local or very new recommendations
AI can miss newly opened restaurants, temporary exhibitions or small local favourites that haven’t generated much online content yet. For these, Google Maps reviews, local forums or simply asking people once you arrive often produce better results.
Critical travel requirements
There are some areas where AI should never be your only source. Visa rules, entry requirements, vaccinations and passport validity change frequently and vary by nationality. These should always be checked against official government or embassy sources.
How to Ask Better Questions
Travellers aren’t powerless here. The quality of what AI produces is heavily shaped by how you prompt it.
Generic requests like “the best beaches in Europe” tend to lead straight to overcrowded hotspots. More thoughtful prompts produce more interesting results. Try asking for overlooked towns reachable by train, destinations that work well in shoulder season, or regions discussed mainly in local-language blogs.
Timing matters too. AI tends to focus on peak season because that’s when most reviews are written. Asking about October instead of August, or May instead of July, can unlock very different suggestions.
You can even ask it to consider sustainability, rail travel over flights, or locally owned accommodation. Every prompt sends a signal about what you value.
Final Thoughts
AI can be an excellent travel companion, but it shouldn’t be left in the driver’s seat. Used wisely, it helps generate ideas, organise plans and reduce the mental load of preparation. Used uncritically, it can lead to rushed itineraries, missed details and crowded, cookie-cutter trips.
The sweet spot is using AI as a starting point – then testing it, questioning it and combining it with guidebooks, local sources and human judgement. Do that, and you’ll keep the convenience without losing the curiosity and unpredictability that make travel memorable.
Holiday Nerd 