Travellers Embrace AI for Trip Planning but Hesitate on Bookings
Most travellers use AI to plan trips, but only about half will let it book or handle disruptions, a Skift Research and McKinsey report finds.
Travellers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to shape their trips, yet they remain reluctant to hand over the final booking decision, according to a joint report by Skift Research and McKinsey & Company titled "Winning Hearts in an Age of Infinite Travel Choices."
Seventy-one per cent of travellers are comfortable using AI to generate initial ideas, and 62 per cent say such tools make trip planning easier. Just over half, 52 per cent, expect to lean on AI more heavily over the next 12 months.
Adoption is heaviest at the research stage, where 34 per cent of respondents use AI. Two-thirds, or 67 per cent, are at ease letting it narrow down and compare travel options.
That comfort fades sharply once money is involved. Only about half of travellers would allow AI to make a flight or hotel booking on their behalf or manage a disruption mid-journey. Discomfort nearly doubles when AI shifts from advising to acting, with 74 per cent preferring to complete bookings themselves.
Booking behaviour reflects that caution. Forty-three per cent of travellers booked directly through an airline or hotel website, 42 per cent used an online travel agency, and just 16 per cent relied on an AI tool to finish a booking.
Transaction mechanics are no longer the main obstacle, the report notes; emotional uncertainty is. Fifty-two per cent of travellers feel anxious about making the wrong booking decision, and 49 per cent cite trust in the supplier as their chief reason for booking direct.
Pat Nestor of Hyatt said consumers are likely to grow more comfortable with agentic-led transactions over time, comparing the shift to early apprehension about paying by credit card online.
Reluctance is conditional rather than absolute. Only 14 per cent say nothing would persuade them to permit automated bookings. To build confidence, 52 per cent want the ability to review and modify details before confirmation, 30 per cent want accurate recommendation records, and 20 per cent want human intervention when problems arise. Handling disruptions draws the lowest comfort score across use cases, at 51 per cent.
Evan Konwiser of Amex GBT said AI is only as personalised as the information it is given, noting that most tools do not yet know the traveller well. He added that a personal-assistant AI that genuinely understood a user's past trips and preferences would offer enormous utility.