According to a Eurostars Hotel Company survey of around 2,000 customers, 71% utilize artificial intelligence for trip planning, yet only 3% fully trust its suggestions. The study reveals a gap between using AI for accommodation research and relying on it to make final booking decisions.
Although 49% of respondents had used AI to discover or compare hotels, only 5% said its recommendations directly influenced their final hotel choice. This suggests that AI has established a role in the early stages of travel planning, but has not gained comparable influence over final booking decisions.
AI’s Role in Travel Planning
The survey identified four principal ways travelers use AI: 37% to discover destinations and obtain practical travel information, 33% to find restaurants, activities, and places to visit, 19% to compare travel options and prices, and 11% to search for transportation or accommodation.
Travelers can request destination suggestions for particular dates, budgets, and interests or ask for itineraries that combine sightseeing, restaurants, and transportation. However, using an itinerary does not necessarily mean following it unchanged. Some 46% of respondents said they had asked an AI tool to prepare a travel itinerary that they could subsequently modify.
The distinction becomes more pronounced when travelers move from generating ideas to selecting accommodation. Almost half had used AI to explore or compare hotels, but only one in 20 said an AI recommendation directly determined their final choice.
Travelers’ Reluctance to Trust AI
The survey also asked respondents how they would use an AI assistant capable of organizing a complete trip according to their preferences, budget, and travel dates. A majority, 54%, said they would use such a tool but would check its recommendations before making decisions. Only 8.5% said they would entrust it with a substantial part of the planning process or certain reservations.
The research identified three leading concerns that help explain the hesitation: the possibility of receiving outdated information, cited by 39% of participants, concerns about the privacy of their personal information, cited by 30%, and worries that recommendations might not reflect their actual preferences, cited by 29%.
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These concerns can become particularly important when travelers need accurate information about flight times, hotel availability, cancellation conditions, or changes to local attractions. A hotel recommendation may initially appear suitable but become less useful if its prices, room availability, or policies have changed since the information was collected.
Eurostars Hotel Company has introduced its own conversational assistant, Guido, into its direct booking channel. The assistant allows customers to ask questions in natural language, explore destinations and hotels, receive recommendations, and consult real-time availability. It can also support completion of reservations within the hotel’s booking environment.
However, the survey does not establish that Guido has increased bookings, improved conversion rates, or resolved customers’ concerns about AI recommendations. Its findings instead demonstrate the challenge facing travel companies: interest in conversational planning is substantially greater than travelers’ stated willingness to delegate purchasing decisions.
As travelers become more comfortable using AI for research, they are still likely to verify details that directly affect the cost or feasibility of their journey. This includes checking hotel availability and prices, verifying transportation, reviewing cancellation policies, and confirming attraction details.
Some respondents use AI itineraries as their principal planning reference or follow many of the recommendations. The survey also found that 19% of respondents reported using AI itineraries in this way.
Hotel comparisons involve several different priorities, including location and transportation connections. Among the information respondents wanted when researching accommodation, 24% cited comparisons of hotel prices and features.