Here at Kipsu, we talk a lot about improving the experience for guests during travel, something which AI plays a role in. Many guests are already using AI tools for trip planning, itinerary management, and a host of other travel-related tasks in place of traditional keyboard research or online travel advisors. Travelers are showing a real appetite for replacing older processes with AI, but this appetite doesn’t necessarily translate across the spectrum. Let’s explore both ends of this spectrum: how hungry are travelers to automate their experience – and where does this appetite taper off?

In a July 2025 survey, respondents most frequently found generative AI platforms like ChatGPT helpful for trip inspiration or destination planning. This sentiment is consistent with expectations for generative AI’s impact on travel, with travel planning and travel inspiration ranked as two high-impact categories. Additionally, geography is a key factor for using AI for travel. Adoption is most concentrated in Asia: travelers from China and India forecast the most usage, while the US and the UK forecast the least usage. 

When initially considering who would ask ChatGPT to create their vacation itinerary, it’s easy to imagine the millennial or Gen Z travelers of the world armed with a technology ecosystem to disseminate every step of travel from boarding to the Waymo ride home – which is why it’s also important to include corporate travel planners in this conversation. Corporate travel finds particular utility in the time and process efficiency of AI agents like Perk, with one user writing: “I do not have to pay out of pocket, gain approval manually, and wait to be reimbursed for travel costs. I am able to book and manage all travel and lodging through the app quickly and easily and transparently for my company to see.”

At the same time, travel planners’ sensitivity to time can also be limiting within AI tools, with one user noting: “If I want the "semi-flex" rate, which in most flight companies will allow the ticket to be modified with a reasonable fee, I have to ask offline: send a mail, request the ticket, wait for answer, discuss my choice, confirm; and then only will it be booked. When trying to book a flight, every minute counts, so this is a HUGE con.” Here, it becomes clear that tailoring platforms for the traditional leisure traveler – i.e. displaying low cost options only – does not fit all corporate travelers’ needs, and any lack of flexibility and resulting inefficiency can be particularly costly. 

On the flip side of the coin for consumers, there’s the obvious hallucination stories that make some travelers balk at using AI tools for travel. Within that vein, travelers report the least comfort with including AI in legally – or logistically – significant travel decisions, such as compliance with visa requirements or local ordinances. Travelers are also less than enthusiastic about handing off entire travel decisions to digital assistants using agentic AI. This variety of AI is defined by its ability to make autonomous decisions using context from multiple sessions. In theory, agentic AI can be a huge asset to organizations and individuals because it includes the most context in its responses compared to traditional or generative AI. In reality, just 2% of respondents in a 2025 report were comfortable with an AI tool creating and managing travel bookings independent of human oversight. Essentially, travelers are happy to automate the beginning or middle portions of travel tasks – but they want to have the final say before a ticket is stamped. 

One potential cause of this divide between generative and agentic AI is exposure. Since Google launched its AI Overviews feature in May 2024, AI-generated search results for travel-related searches have quadrupled in visibility. With more data points on generative AI’s capabilities, travelers have more reason to trust it in a high-stress time like travel. A second potential contributing factor is the fields that people trust to be automated. In a 2023 study, participants were asked which fields they would select for unlimited investments in AI. Participants chose medicine and cybersecurity, fields generally trusted because of the high confidence in those fields’ experts. Conversely, in a field built on the mantra “the customer is always right”, travelers may be more wary of automating the work done by human travel personnel on an end-to-end basis.

As a company, Kipsu is a believer in AI’s utility for personalizing guest interactions. Wherever a property is on the automation spectrum, we’re here to work with them. For more on how we optimize guest experiences, schedule a conversation.