AI Travel Assistants: Four Ways to Help You Save Money on Your Next Trip

Travel season is upon us, whether you’re organizing a summer getaway or a spring break trip. However, budgeting for a trip can be challenging because inflation is affecting Americans everywhere.

In fact, according to Hopper, 77% of travelers said they have not yet made travel plans, with 90% of Americans who plan to travel for spring break citing cost and affordability as their top concerns.

Let’s introduce artificial intelligence. AI, which simplifies our lives, shopping experiences, and work processes, can now also help you cut costs on your upcoming trip.

KAYAK and Expedia Introduce ChatGPT Plug-Ins

For example, several travel websites, such as KAYAK and Expedia, have introduced ChatGPT plug-ins lately. Based on the chat, users can receive recommendations for things to see and do, places to go, places to stay, and how to get around.

“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 example, Expedia provides travel recommendations via the ChatGPT plug-in on the app’s homepage. Hotels and other points of interest discussed during the conversation will be saved to a trip, which you can then book through the app. Travel planning can be streamlined and time-saving by using a single platform for both booking and research.

According to a Matador Network survey, two-thirds of travelers, or 64%, stated they have already used AI to plan or conduct research before their next trip. Furthermore, 16% of respondents stated they had already used AI to assist with their travel planning. The majority of these respondents claimed to have done so to find activities or attractions they would not have known about (70%) and to save time on planning (60%) when using AI tools.

“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.

Borden added that Matador Network just released GuideGeek, a free travel assistant driven by OpenAI that is designed with budgeting in mind.

Maintaining Your Travel Budget

Borden states that GuideGeek can be fully customized at the user’s request. For instance, you can create an itinerary for any place in the world that fits any length of time and any budget.

“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.

Even with a fairly basic prompt like, “What are some of the best tips to save money on travel?” ChatGPT itself can provide basic advice on how to save money when traveling. Prince stated.

However, Prince pointed out that the more precise and thorough you can be with ChatGPT prompts, the better the results.

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 6 pm 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 stated that after contacting ChatGPT, “it gave me some solid advice” regarding how to reduce the cost of checked baggage fees with Delta.

Getting Cheap Flights

AI travel tools can assist in locating flights with additional options in addition to the cheapest flights.

“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 went on to say that Google Flights now employs AI to forecast when ticket prices will be at their lowest.

“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.

Ideas for Low-Cost Travel

According to Borden, using AI to generate ideas and inspiration for your next trip is a great way to break away from your usual routine of only booking places you’ve been to before.

“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.

Requesting Cost-Saving Techniques

For example, you can communicate with GuideGeek for free on Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram while you are making travel plans.

“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.