4 Ways AI Travel Assistants Can Save You Money on Your Next Vacation
Whether you’re planning a spring break trip or a summer vacation, travel season is upon us — but with inflation hitting Americans at every corner, budgeting for a vacation can be arduous.
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Indeed, 90% of Americans planning to travel for spring break said that price and affordability are top of mind, resulting in 77% of travelers saying they have not booked their trips yet, according to Hopper.
Enter artificial intelligence. AI, which makes — or aims to make — the way we live, shop and work easier, can now also help you save money on your next vacation.
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Expedia and KAYAK Launch ChatGPT Plug-Ins
For instance, several travel sites, including Expedia and KAYAK, have launched ChatGPT plug-ins recently. Users can get recommendations on places to go, where to stay, how to get around, and what to see and do based on the chat.
“You’ll find AI embedded in most of the best-known travel booking engines today, so you might be using AI to help plan your trip without even realizing it,” said Brian Prince, founder and CEO of TopAITools.com.
For instance, Expedia uses a ChatGPT plug-in on the homepage of the app to provide travel recommendations. It will save hotels and attractions mentioned in the conversation to a trip, which you can then book in the app. Using one platform for research and booking helps streamline travel planning and save time.
And two-thirds — 64% of travelers — said they expect to use AI to research or plan travel in the future, or have already done so, according to a Matador Network survey. In addition, 16% said they had already used AI to help plan their travel — and a majority of those respondents said they used AI tools to save time planning (60%) and to find activities or attractions they wouldn’t have known about (70%).
“Budgeting is a huge part of travel. Very few people can move around the globe as if money was no object,” said Ross Borden, CEO of travel publisher Matador Network.
Matador Network also recently launched GuideGeek, a free OpenAI-powered travel assistant with budgeting in mind, said Borden.
Staying Within Your Travel Budget
According to Borden, GuideGeek can be completely customizable to the request of the user. For example, you can make an itinerary of any length and matching any budget for any location in the world.
“How often have you been looking at a hotel online that’s in your budget, but there’s an ad for another hotel that looks way better but costs twice as much?” asked Borden.
ChatGPT itself can offer basic money-saving tips for travel, even with a pretty simple prompt like, “What are some of the best tips to save money on travel?” said Prince.
Yet, Prince noted that when it comes to ChatGPT prompts, the more specific and detailed you can be, the better the output.
For instance, when Prince used the prompt, “I’m planning a trip to Paris in April. Can you tell me some tips to save money on food and tourist attractions?” ChatGPT offered specific and tangible advice, including a list of free attractions.
“I didn’t know you could get into the Louvre free after 6pm on the first Friday of every month (except in July and August)! Always make sure to fact-check the information from ChatGPT, as it may not be up-to-date or accurate,” he added.
Prince said he asked ChatGPT for ways to save money on checked baggage fees with Delta, “and it gave me some solid advice.”
Finding Flight Deals
AI travel tools can also help finding not only the cheapest flights, but flights with other options.
“We see a lot of users booking flights on GuideGeek because rather than a somewhat overwhelming array of flight options no sane person would take, if you put in your dates and destinations, GuideGeek immediately searches all available flights and provides three options: best, fastest and cheapest,” said Borden.
Prince added that Google Flights now uses AI to predict when you can get the best prices on tickets.
“Google Gemini integrates with Google Flights to access data, so you can plan your trip in Gemini and then book it easily, knowing you’re getting the best prices,” he said.
Brainstorming for Budget Travel
Using AI to get ideas and inspiration for your next trip is a great way to break out of your typical habits in booking destinations of which you’re already aware, said Borden.
“AI presents a more proactive option for travelers to find new destinations that fit within their budget, as opposed to scrolling on Instagram and hoping that the cool beach you just saw has somewhere affordable to stay nearby,” he said.
Asking for Cost-Saving Strategies
For instance, as you plan your trip, you can message back and forth with GuideGeek at no cost on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
“While lists of free activities exist online for a lot of destinations, using AI can help create a custom list generated around what you’re looking for. It would take quite a bit of time to research the same highly specific set of info on Google,” said Borden.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 4 Ways AI Travel Assistants Can Save You Money on Your Next Vacation
