AI travel planning remains a concern for many holidaymakers, with a new survey finding that just 44% of travellers feel comfortable letting artificial intelligence organise their itineraries. The results suggest that while travellers are embracing some AI tools, many still prefer to make their own decisions about how they spend their holidays.
The study, conducted by Mews, a hospitality management software company, surveyed 3,250 travellers across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. It found that travellers were more likely to use artificial intelligence for practical tasks than to hand over responsibility for planning an entire trip.
Checking hotel room rates was the most common use of AI among respondents, with 63% saying they used the technology for this purpose. Translation came next, with 56% reporting that they used AI to translate information while travelling.
These findings indicate that AI is gaining acceptance when it helps travellers save time, compare prices or overcome language barriers. However, using a tool to complete a specific task is different from relying on it to choose destinations, arrange activities and build a complete holiday itinerary.
For travel companies, that distinction matters. AI travel planning tools can draw on information about destinations, accommodation and activities to produce recommendations quickly. Yet travellers may not always want technology to make those choices for them, particularly when personal preferences and individual decisions are central to the holiday experience.
The survey also examined how comfortable travellers were with hotels using personal information to tailor their experiences. The findings revealed a clear difference between information guests willingly share and data gathered from their online activity.
According to Mews, 61% of respondents were comfortable with hotels using preferences they had explicitly provided. A further 56% accepted the use of their previous stay history to personalise their experience. However, acceptance fell to 43% for information collected through online behaviour and 34% for data drawn from social media activity.
The figures suggest that travellers are more comfortable with personalisation when they understand where the information comes from and have chosen to provide it. By contrast, using details gathered from browsing habits or social media may raise concerns about privacy and how much businesses know about their customers.
Attitudes towards artificial intelligence also varied between countries. Spain recorded the most positive overall attitude towards AI, at 58%. Italian travellers were particularly optimistic about the technology’s role in travel over the next five years, with 51% expressing a positive outlook, compared with an average of 39% across the countries surveyed.
The results offer travel businesses a clearer picture of where customers may welcome automation and where they may prefer a more personal approach. Hotels can use AI to help manage routine tasks, provide information and support guests, but the technology’s value may depend on whether customers feel comfortable with the way it is introduced.
Josef Starýchfojtů, chief product and technology officer at Mews, said businesses needed to understand whether guests wanted a task completed for them or preferred to remain involved in the process.
“Having clever technology is great, but firstly, we should know whether guests want a task done for them or want to be part of it. Get that wrong and even good AI feels intrusive,” Starýchfojtů said.
He added that Mews was developing technology designed to handle routine administrative work, giving hotel teams more time to focus on their guests.
The survey does not establish how all travellers worldwide feel about AI, but it highlights an important distinction in how people are adopting the technology. Travellers may be comfortable using AI to check accommodation prices or translate a menu without being ready to let it organise their entire holiday. For the travel industry, wider adoption of AI travel planning may depend not only on what the technology can do, but also on how much control travellers are willing to give it.
