When AI Plans Your Vacation… and You Miss the Turn for Reality
- Marissa Clark
- Oct 28
- 3 min read
Why real travel advisors still matter in the age of AI
AI can spit out a “perfect” plan. It just doesn’t know the difference between a scenic drive and a four-hour standstill with a view. Data ≠ judgment.
Real AI Travel Fails
1) Airline chatbot gave false policy advice—and lost in court
An Air Canada website chatbot told a grieving traveler he could buy a full-fare ticket and claim a bereavement discount after travel. Not true. A tribunal ruled the airline was responsible for misinformation on its own site and ordered compensation.
Advisor reality: When rules are murky, a human calls the airline, documents the policy, and protects you from “the bot said so” disasters.
2) AI city day-plans: chaotic routes, closed venues, bad info
WIRED tested an AI travel chatbot (“Littlefoot”) in London and New York. The result? Repeated, irrelevant suggestions, bungled navigation, and stops that weren’t open—aka a time-wasting goose chase.
Advisor reality: We sequence days by geography, opening hours, transit sanity, and your energy level—so you’re not sprinting across town for a shuttered door.
3) “Let AI plan our trip—what could go wrong?”
Major outlets have road-tested AI trip planners and found hallucinations, outdated info, and impractical plans. Outside’s comparison: none “nailed it,” all included false facts. The Washington Post’s test in D.C. flagged foibles and local misses.
Advisor reality: We sanity-check everything against live calendars, local intel, and our own on-the-ground experience.
4) AI overviews can be confidently wrong (and sometimes risky)
Google’s AI Overviews drew heat for confidently wrong answers surfacing across topics—proof that generative answers can sound authoritative while being off-base. That’s not what you want guiding a mountain trail or remote hot spring.
Advisor reality: We verify. If safety or logistics matter, we don’t outsource them to a roulette wheel of “maybe.”
Why AI Trips Fall Apart in the Real World
No lived experience. It’s never hauled luggage up Lisbon’s hills or dealt with Paris strikes.
Stale/incorrect details. Hours, closures, seasonal changes—AI often lags. (See above.)
No emotional IQ. It can’t read your energy, your kid’s meltdown potential, or the vibe you want.
Zero accountability. When a plan breaks, a bot won’t phone the front desk or rebook you mid-air.
“AI can build an itinerary. A travel advisor builds a trip that actually works—on your dates, with your people, in the real world.”
Why a Human Travel Advisor Still Wins
1) Craft & Context: We optimize flow (geography, traffic windows, jet lag), pair experiences that make sense, and avoid the “pretty but impossible” trap. (Ask anyone who tried to “do” Amalfi in a day.)
2) Real Relationships: We get the last-two seats on that tour, the table everyone says is “impossible,” and drivers who actually show up.
3) Live Problem-Solving: Flights canceled? Museum strike? Weather flip? We reroute now—not after you’ve wasted a day.
4) Personal Fit: No generic top-10 dump. We design for food allergies, mobility needs, ADHD-friendly pacing, anniversary magic—your actual life.
5) Accountability: You can text/call us. We pick up. The bot doesn’t.
Example Fixes We Make (that AI usually misses)
Amalfi logistics: Driver and early departure and Ravello/Scala pairing beats anxiety-spiral on SS163.
Paris “walkable” hotels: We map reality (stairs, underpasses, late-night feel) not just crow-flies distance.
Iceland hot springs: We book the real deal (timed entry, towel included) and pad your drive time for weather—no “mystery lagoons.”
Safari proximity: Inside-the-park trumps “nearby” every time for dawn game drives.
(Those patterns mirror the failures documented by WIRED, WaPo, and others.)
AI gives you information. A human travel advisor gives you context, experience, and taste.
Bottom Line
Let AI write your packing list. But letting it run your entire trip is like handing a Roomba your car keys. It’ll move; it won’t get you to Capri.
AI Fails News Receipts
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