PUT DOWN THE THESARUS
AI vs Reality: The Travel Enquiry That Goes Poof!
The Walking Critic | August, 2026
There was a time when a travel enquiry was a relatively simple affair.
“Hi. We're a couple, we'd like to go to Bali for 10 nights in September. We like good hotels, good food and we'd rather not spend half the holiday sitting in a car. Budget around $8,000. What do you suggest?”
Wonderful.
You've told me where you want to go, roughly when you want to go, how long you've got, what you like, what you don't like and what you're prepared to spend.
I can work with that.
These days, however, some travel enquiries arrive looking like someone has glued together a Christmas cracker.
It is beautifully decorated.
It is bursting with words.
There are ribbons everywhere.
You pull the cracker expecting a magnificent bang.
Poof.
Nothing.
Just a small cloud of vocabulary.
“We are seeking an immersive, authentic and culturally enriching experience that balances luxury with meaningful local connection, gastronomic discovery, wellness and sustainable tourism principles, while avoiding overtouristed environments…”
Lovely.
Now tell me where you want to go, when you're travelling, how many people are coming and roughly how much you'd like to spend.
Far from it.
Artificial intelligence is extraordinarily clever and can be enormously useful.
But somewhere along the way, we seem to have decided that the best way to ask a travel professional for help is to get a machine to write the enquiry for us. We have abdicated our brains and forethought to a computer.
And this creates a rather peculiar phenomenon.
The enquiry becomes much more impressive sounding while becoming considerably less useful.
It's as though the traveller has filled the verbiage tank right to the brim.
Unfortunately, the information tank is running on fumes.
The result is a beautifully constructed paragraph containing 417 words, 19 adjectives and absolutely no indication of whether the traveller wants to leave on 14 September or 14 October.
Here's something worth remembering.
If you're talking to a top travel agent, there is a very good chance they already know a great deal more about travel than you do.
That's not an insult.
It's their job.
A good travel professional may have spent decades selling holidays, talking to hoteliers, visiting destinations, inspecting ships, dealing with airlines, listening to travellers and solving problems.
They have probably answered the question you are painstakingly constructing with ChatGPT a zillion times already.
And then another zillion times.
You don't need to arrive armed with a philosophical thesis on experiential tourism.
You don't need to explain the socio-cultural significance of your desire for an authentic Balinese breakfast.
And you certainly don't need to sound like you've swallowed a thesaurus.
Just tell them what you actually want.
“Authentic” is one of my favourites.
Everyone wants an authentic experience.
Fine.
What does that mean?
A family-run warung?
A village untouched by tourism?
A luxury resort designed to look like a Balinese village?
A local cooking class?
A temple ceremony?
A restaurant where nobody speaks English?
Or does it mean a five-star hotel with a very good spa that happens to have a bamboo ceiling?
And then there's the traveller who wants an “authentic local experience” but also wants:
Five-star accommodation.
A king-sized bed.
Air conditioning.
Room service.
A rain shower.
Excellent Wi-Fi.
A swimming pool.
And preferably no mosquitoes.
That's fine.
I understand.
But let's call it what it is.
You want authentic-ish.
And that's perfectly acceptable.
AI has also given travellers a wonderful new vocabulary.
Suddenly everyone is looking for:
immersive experiences
meaningful connections
bespoke journeys
authentic encounters
gastronomic discovery
transformative travel
slow travel
conscious tourism
culturally enriching experiences
restorative wellness
off-the-beaten-track destinations
hidden gems
seamless experiences
elevated hospitality
local engagement
I'm not saying any of these phrases are wrong. Even in the travel industry we flog the heck out of buzz words, hoping they will stick.
They're perfectly legitimate.
The problem comes when you wouldn't normally use any of them while speaking to another human being.
If you don't say “gastronomic discovery” when you're talking to your partner about dinner, why are you suddenly saying it to your travel agent?
If you've never once described a hotel as “an elevated hospitality experience”, perhaps don't start now.
And if the words you've used in your travel enquiry aren't words that exist in your everyday vernacular, there's a reasonable chance you've borrowed somebody else's voice.
And that voice is usually ChatGPT's.
This reminds me of boarding school in England.
We had a rather efficient system for going to the loo.
There were eight stalls.
Someone would go before you, do their business, return to the classroom and find the next person whose turn it was.
It was a beautifully simple system.
One day, one of the more aristocratic boys came into the classroom and announced, with enormous authority:
“You are required to go and deposit the waste materials of your posterior.”
I remember thinking that this was an extraordinarily elaborate way of saying:
“Your turn for the toilet.”
It has stayed with me ever since.
And I sometimes think of it when I read an AI-generated travel enquiry.
Please don't suddenly decide to become Oscar Wilde because you've opened ChatGPT.
If the words don't normally come out of your mouth, you probably don't need them in your travel enquiry either.
This is the other thing.
Remember who you're talking to.
You're not talking to a concrete wall.
You don't need to stuff your enquiry full of hay and straw until it resembles a prize-winning bale at the Royal Show.
And you certainly don't need a hoof in the back of your throat.
A good travel agent is a human being.
Talk to them like one.
Tell them what you liked.
Tell them what you hated.
Tell them what you did last time.
Tell them what you absolutely don't want to do again.
Tell them that your husband gets seasick.
Tell them your wife hates changing hotels.
Tell them you love wine but couldn't care less about temples.
Tell them you want luxury but don't want anything remotely stuffy.
Tell them you've got $10,000 to spend and would rather spend it on a brilliant hotel than seven mediocre excursions.
Those are the things a good travel professional can work with.
This is where the human travel agent has an enormous advantage.
AI can tell you that a destination has beautiful beaches.
A good travel agent may know that the beach looks magnificent in photographs but gets battered by the prevailing wind in the month you're travelling.
AI can tell you that a particular hotel is highly rated.
Your travel agent may know that the hotel has recently changed management.
AI can tell you that a resort is “perfect for couples seeking tranquillity”.
Your travel agent may know that there is a nightclub next door.
AI can recommend a destination based on thousands of pieces of information.
A good travel agent can say:
“I wouldn't send you there.”
And sometimes that is worth considerably more.
Because travel isn't just about knowing what exists.
It's knowing what suits this particular person.
I've also noticed that AI has encouraged people to ask questions that they don't actually need to ask.
For example:
“Can you provide a curated selection of luxury properties that balance authentic cultural immersion with contemporary comfort?”
What you're really asking is:
“Where should we stay?”
Or:
“Could you advise on an itinerary that allows for flexibility and spontaneity while ensuring meaningful engagement with the destination?”
What you're really saying is:
“Don't book every minute of our holiday.”
Or:
“We are seeking a destination that remains relatively untouched by mass tourism while offering a sophisticated hospitality infrastructure.”
Translation:
“We don't want crowds, but we don't want to sleep in a tent.”
That's useful information.
Just say it.
Then there are the wonderful contradictions.
“I want somewhere completely unspoilt but with excellent infrastructure.”
“I want an authentic local experience but don't want to be around too many locals.”
“I want somewhere undiscovered but with lots of restaurants.”
“I want a remote island but don't want a long transfer.”
“I want absolute tranquillity but I want to be in the middle of everything.”
“I don't want a tourist destination.”
“Where do all the tourists go?”
These aren't stupid requests.
They're perfectly normal.
Travel is full of compromises.
The job of a good travel professional is to work out which compromises you're actually prepared to make.
You don't need to solve the contradiction yourself before you pick up the phone.
That's what you're paying the travel professional to help you do.
And this is the irony.
The best enquiries are often the least polished.
They're human.
They're messy.
They're honest.
Something like:
“We're two couples in our early 60s. We've got about $15,000. We like really good hotels and restaurants, but we're not interested in museums. We don't want to move hotels every two nights. One of us has a dodgy knee, so nothing involving five hours of walking. We've been to Bali and Thailand and loved both, but we're looking for something different. We don't know exactly where we want to go. What would you do?”
Now that's an enquiry.
I know exactly what to do with that.
In fact, I'd probably enjoy answering it.
Because you've given me the raw ingredients.
I can start cooking.
Here's the difference.
AI enquiry:
“We are seeking a thoughtfully curated, immersive and culturally authentic experience that balances sophisticated luxury with meaningful local engagement, gastronomic discovery and restorative wellness, while avoiding overtouristed destinations and maintaining a strong connection with the natural environment.”
Human enquiry:
“We want somewhere beautiful, quiet and luxurious. We love food, don't want crowds and we'd rather spend our money on the hotel than lots of organised tours.”
Which one is more useful?
It's not even close.
The second one tells me what you want.
The first one tells me you've been talking to ChatGPT.
And perhaps this is the most important thing I'd say.
You don't have to know exactly what you want before talking to a good travel agent.
That's rather the point.
A good travel professional should be able to ask questions.
Lots of them.
“What did you like about your last holiday?”
“What didn't you like?”
“Why did you choose that hotel?”
“What do you mean by luxury?”
“Are you happy moving hotels?”
“Do you like organised tours?”
“How much time do you want to spend by the pool?”
“Are you adventurous with food?”
“How important is the beach?”
“What would make you come home and say, ‘That was brilliant’?”
These questions are often far more valuable than a 900-word AI-generated manifesto.
AI tends to ask you to describe the answer.
A good travel agent knows how to discover the answer.
That's the difference.
I'm not suggesting you throw ChatGPT out the window.
Use it.
Research destinations.
Get ideas.
Ask it to explain something you don't understand.
Use it to create a shortlist.
Ask it what questions you should be asking.
But when you're ready to talk to a travel professional, put the thesaurus down.
Don't ask AI to write your enquiry.
Give the travel agent the messy, boring, human version.
Tell them:
Where you want to go.
When you want to travel.
How many people are travelling.
What you've got to spend.
What you like.
What you hate.
What you've done before.
What you definitely don't want to do again.
And if you don't know where you want to go, say so.
That's useful too.
Perhaps every travel enquiry should undergo what I call The Poof Test.
Pull the Christmas cracker.
What comes out?
If you get:
Dates.
Budget.
Destination.
Travellers.
Interests.
Dislikes.
Previous travel.
Mobility requirements.
Expectations.
BANG.
That's a travel enquiry.
If you get:
Immersive.
Authentic.
Bespoke.
Transformative.
Gastronomic.
Restorative.
Meaningful.
Elevated.
Conscious.
Culturally enriching.
…but nobody has mentioned when they're travelling…
Poof.
You've got a beautifully decorated Christmas cracker containing absolutely nothing useful.
And that's the thing about travel.
The best holidays don't necessarily start with the cleverest words.
They start with an honest conversation.
So by all means, use AI.
Just don't let it do the talking when you're talking to someone who has spent 30 years doing exactly that.
Your travel agent doesn't need you to sound clever.
They need you to sound like you.
And preferably tell them where you'd like to go.
Otherwise...
Poof.
