Is AI better at planning and booking a vacation than you are?

Artificial intelligence can help you research travel destinations as well as simplify tasks like making reservations. But can AI also plan a trip or vacation better than you can?

To put AI to the test, CBS News senior transportation and national correspondent Kris Van Cleave used Google’s Gemini bot to explore travel options, while CBS News correspondent Nancy Chen, herself a seasoned traveler, relied on more conventional online tools to compare deals across flights, hotels and activities. Here’s what they found.

Which approach saved time and money?

For the sake of comparison, both Van Cleave and Chen set out to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, but they went about planning the trip in different ways.

Using Google’s Gemini AI app, Van Cleave spent under a minute on his mobile phone to generate a potential itinerary. For her part, Chen spent about 45 minutes comparing deals and reviews across websites including Expedia, Kayak and Tripadvisor.

The upshot? He saved time, while the total cost of a flight and three nights at a five-star hotel came out to $741.48, compared to $780.05 for the same itinerary rustled up by Chen. 

“I think he won this round, and I really need a vacation now,” Chen said. 

Communication breakdown

Yet while Gemini found some savings, it fell short once the pair was on the ground, and Van Cleave tasked it with creating an itinerary of free activities and events. 

“I am on my way, letting AI guide my day,” Van Cleave said. The technology directed him to visit the Bellagio Resort & Casino, where it suggested he visit a free botanical garden. But that information appeared to be outdated.

“What it didn’t tell me — they seasonally tear it down for a holiday display,” Van Cleave said. 

Chen, guided by her own internet research, visited the Pinball Hall of Fame, which was open and which displayed hundreds of pinball machines, including vintage games from 1953.

AI also fell short for Van Cleave when it told him that morning fountain shows at the Bellagio are less crowded than those that take place in the afternoon. 

“The reason the morning fountain shows are less crowded is because there are no morning fountain shows,” Van Cleave said. “They don’t start until three.”

Van Cleave was misdirected yet again when he arrived at what he expected to be the Mirage, a casino resort, for a volcano show. In its place was a construction site where a new Hard Rock Cafe has yet to open.

More successfully, AI steered Van Cleave to Vegas’ art district on Fremont Street, and booked a dinner reservation that was to the correspondents’ liking.  

To err is human

Not that Chen’s search was foolproof. She visited the Stratosphere Tower, the tallest observation tower in the U.S., in hopes of scoring a free ride to its top floor drinks lounge. There was just one hitch. 

“I thought it would be free to go up to the drinks lounge…but turns out it charged admission as well,” she said. 

In the end — and recognizing the unscientific nature of CBS News’ experiment — AI was a clear winner on speed. But it still appears to require human surveillance to ensure its recommendations are up to date and accurate. 

One AI travel tool company, GuideGeek, told CBS News it is 98% accurate, but that it is continually upgrading the tech to better advise users on attractions’ business hours and other information. Users are also instructed to give the AI feedback when it provides a faulty recommendation in order to improve the product for other travelers. 

Indeed, major travel service providers seem confident that “generative AI,” which functions by creating text, videos and other content based on existing data, is here to stay. Expedia, just to name one major travel site, has also launched its own AI travel tool, to provide customers with a range of information, such as the best time to visit certain destinations.

contributed to this report.