AI Can Now Be Your Personal Airbnb Booking Agent
Tara Viswanathan, the cofounder of the AI-powered construction startup Unlimited Industries, recently demonstrated the impressive new capabilities of OpenAI's AI agents by putting them to a real-world test.
The Challenge A Personalized Airbnb Search
In a post on X, Viswanathan shared her experience using the Pro version of ChatGPT to find the perfect Airbnb for an upcoming event in October. Instead of spending hours manually searching and filtering, she gave the AI a single, detailed prompt to do the work for her.
Crafting the Perfect AI Prompt
This was the specific prompt she provided to ChatGPT:
"I want to find an Airbnb for [event] in [city / neighborhood] in October this year. I want it for at least that Wednesday through ideally the next Monday. And I want a super nice modern spot that is ideally walkable to the event. Tell me about the area nearby. And ideally it's walkable to coffee shops and things like that too. And I want it to have at least four bedrooms."
The Secret Sauce Training ChatGPT on Personal Preferences
To ensure the results were truly tailored to her tastes, Viswanathan took an innovative extra step. She prompted the chatbot to first understand her preferences before starting the search. She asked ChatGPT:
"What are some core things that you need to know about me so that you can execute on more complicated tasks accurately? Different types of preferences or styles, things like that. Give me a list of questions that I can answer so you can remember. And give me multiple choice answers to make it easy for me."
By answering questions about her likes and dislikes regarding food, hotels, travel, and communication, she effectively trained her personal AI agent to conduct a highly bespoke search.
The Impressive Result Time Saved and Peace of Mind
The AI delivered a spot-on recommendation in about 10 minutes, a task Viswanathan estimates would have taken her over an hour to complete manually. As a self-described picky traveler, the result was more than just a time-saver.
"The benefit is less about the time savings and more about the peace of mind knowing it's going to handle it," she wrote. "Insane."
A Glimpse into the Future of Travel
While some travelers enjoy the process of planning a trip, many find it tedious. Viswanathan's experiment offers a compelling look at the future of travel planning: a proactive AI concierge that understands your unique preferences so well that it can find the perfect recommendations on the first try. This shift from simple search queries to complex, personalized task execution marks a significant leap forward for consumer AI.
