A human travel agent taken on a robot in a battle to provide the best holiday.
The launch of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI, has sparked conversations about the power of AI - so we decided to put it to the test.
An independent travel agent from Advantage Travel Partnership - the UK's largest independent travel agent group - agreed to be pitted against machine. Both human and AI were given the same prompt, with each producing two holiday suggestions.
The AI plumped for trips to Majorca and Faro, while the person went for stays in Lyon and Barcelona.
Their showdown comes the week after easyJet Holidays CEO Garry Wilson explained how the company was forging ahead with plans for more AI.
It also follows a very difficult period in the travel industry during the pandemic, when tens of thousands of agents and those in the broader industry lost their jobs in the UK.
The prompt
We asked both AI and the travel agent to offer suggestions and plan a holiday for the following request:
"I would like to go on a five day to week-long holiday, somewhere in Europe, for £1,000 maximum for flights and accommodation, self catering, for two adults and two kids, aged 6 and 10. I like sitting on the beach and water sports, my partner enjoys learning about the history of a place and museums. We'd like to stay in a hotel with a pool and be in a destination with fun things to do with kids. We want to go in late July or August and travel from London."
Flights
When it came to recommending flights, the AI suggested a number of different airlines which did run routes from London to the chosen destinations, but failed to give specifics on times and prices.
The most specific information it offered was that a ticket could be bought from "London Gatwick to Palma de Majorca airport with easyJet for around £179 return" with the flight time taking "approximately two hours and 30 minutes".
A quick search on Google shows that there are flights for £135 during the given window, suggesting the AI is not the best at finding the cheapest deals.
The human travel agent provided two specific flights with times chosen to be friendly for families with kids while maximising time spent enjoying the trip.
The first - leaving Gatwick at 7.05am and arriving at Barcelona at 10.25pm on August 1 on the way out, (returning at 12:50pm on August 4) currently costs £134 per person while the second - leaving Gatwick at 8.15am, arriving in Lyon at 10.55am on August 1, and returning on 6.40pm on August 1 costs £69 per person.
When it comes to flights, ultimately it was the human travel agent who provided more in-depth options and therefore the more tempting offering.
Accommodation
The AI suggested one family-friendly hotel called the Cala D'Or in Majorca, which is available during the dates for around £570, and has a decent 4.3 star score on Google.
It also put forward a package including flights, which currently costs £939 for seven nights, and boasts an outdoor pool, a kids' playground and a buffet restaurant.
The second hotel - the Colina del Mar in Albufeira - actually costs about twice as much as the £1,000 the AI suggested, without flights, taking the holiday well over budget.
The human travel agent selected the three star Catalonia Sagrada Familia Hotel in Barcelona for a three night stay, which they described as having "smart, spacious rooms, a rooftop terrace with plunge pool and at on site restaurant."
The other is the four star Holiday Inn Lyon Vaise, "which offers a great range of facilities including a large outdoor pool and games room", for a three night stay.
Both are available well within budget at the time chosen, and have solid guest reviews on Tripadvisor.
The human travel agent secures victory in this category due to their reliability and the AI's failure when it came to finding somewhere appropriate for the family to stay that was also within budget.
However, the human suggested stays which were a whole day shorter than the requested holiday length, while the AI did stick to the week-long timeframe.
Activities
The AI really came into its own when suggesting activities, and was brimming full of ideas/recommendations it had scraped from the internet.
For Faro, it highlighted a coastal cave tour, surfing, and a visit to the castle, cathedral or aquarium - all of which are in fact highly recommended by people who've been to the town.
The robot travel agent suggested a number of water sports and generic land-based activities like mini-golf that can be done in Majorca, as well as a trip to "the nearby towns of Santanyi and Calvia, which boast beautiful architecture and monuments from centuries past" for history buffs.
The human offered, as you might expect, a much more human touch when it came to activity recommendations.
"Barcelona is the perfect destination for city and beach lovers," they said, suggesting a trip on the hop-on, hop-off bus tour "to take in lots of the key sites without wearing out little legs."
They also suggested taking a break in Las Ramblas for some traditional tapas and heading to their " favourite beach" Barceloneta for some water sports, before heading to the aquarium and Barcelona Zoo as well.
For the Lyon trip, they suggested driving into town to take in the excellent selection of museums and galleries, as well as the great food and drink scene.
"For children you can see a Guignol puppet show in the Parc de la Tete d’or or take in a treetop adventure course in the Sante-Foy-les-Lyon," they said.
In terms of the winner for this section, it's level pegging.
The human did seem to offer some tailored, first hand knowledge of the destinations and a few great suggestions, but the AI had more ideas, all of which existed, but were simply delivered in a slightly less personal manner.
The winner
Ultimately while the AI offered plenty of inspiration, it was a human travel agent who offered relevant suggestions, and a holiday offer that you could easily book without having to do further research.
Their suggestions were well researched, tailored for the customer and all readily available during the time period.
Like many travel agents in their day-to-day work, the Advantage Travel Partnership rep went above and beyond the initial request, providing two detailed holidays instead of one.
The Mirror ran slightly tweaked prompts through OpenAI a number of times, and encountered the same pitfalls each time.
Recommendations were generic, prices were often wrong, and information was not always easy to interpret.
However, both person and robot offered options that also went over budget - perhaps it's impossible for people and computers to resist splashing out when it comes to holidays!
