Why You Should Trust a Travel Advisor Over AI

These days, we frequently see AI-inspired travel ideas landing in our inbox. They’re easy to spot. The “fit all of Ireland and Northern Ireland into six days” type of request. Or the cheery spin on visiting the Caribbean during hurricane season. On paper, the ideas sound great. But when you dig in, they often fall apart. Budgets don’t account for room categories, seasonal surcharges, or exchange rates. Drive times don’t line up with reality. What looks perfect in theory just doesn’t hold in practice.

I’ve even tested this myself. On a recent trip to Colombia, I arrived in Bogotá a day early with an afternoon free. No plans. So I thought—why not? I asked AI to map out a four-hour walking tour: a good coffee stop, some street art, a bit of history, a cocktail, and dinner with a view. The itinerary it produced sounded amazing. Graffiti alley, embassy-district cocktails, lively streets, rooftop dining—the works.

Reality? Different story. The graffiti alley had already been painted over, the “lively” embassy district was empty on a Sunday, and the rooftop restaurant had relocated blocks away. Of the ten or so stops AI recommended, more than half were closed or gone altogether. What it couldn’t account for was nuance: local schedules, recent changes, or the fact that Sundays in Bogotá run at a different rhythm.

And this is the heart of it: AI doesn’t have friends on the ground. It can’t create those unscripted, magical moments. Like the guide who, the next day, escorted me into a local restaurant to sample homebrewed chicha. Or the bartender at Jardín Tragos y Pasteles, who doesn’t hand out a menu—he quizzes you on your preferences and then crafts an award-winning cocktail from scratch. Or the servers at Tierra Chapinero, who dimmed the lights, lit sparklers, and had the house DJ pump up the room when a guest was celebrating a birthday.

That’s the difference. AI is great for inspiration. But when it comes to your time, money, and travel dreams, you deserve someone who can make them real. Someone who knows when it’s hurricane season. Who understands that six days in Ireland doesn’t mean six cities. Who has partners on the ground, ready to unlock the moments you’ll remember.

And most importantly—AI doesn’t have your back. Even professionals like us, with years of experience and trusted networks worldwide, sometimes hit a snag. But when that happens, we’re there 24/7 to make it right. Because some of the best travel moments do come when things go sideways—but when they do, you want a pro, not a bot, by your side.

(Full disclosure: I did, in fact, use AI to help edit this piece. Wordsmithing? Absolutely. Investing your precious time, money, and travel dreams? That’s our job!)