AI booking assistants can recommend or book hotels and flights for your travelers. Some of the options in their answers are paid or partner-linked. This free kit helps you check whether the assistant follows your negotiated rates and policy, or lets a sponsored option override them.
What it checks
- Include your negotiated rate. The shortlist shows it, or says why it is missing.
- Explain any costlier sponsored pick. If the agent recommends or books a sponsored option that costs more than your negotiated rate, it says why.
- Flag the cheaper option. If something beats your negotiated rate, the agent tells you, then follows your policy.
What is in the kit
An Excel workbook with seven sheets: instructions, the standards, a sheet for your test cases, a run log that marks each run as pass or fail, a results sheet, a checklist for asking your vendor to run the tests and send you a report, and a short feedback sheet.
How to use it
Fill in your test cases, using real requests where your negotiated rate sits next to a costlier sponsored option, or where an option beats it. Run each request 20 to 30 times in fresh sessions, in both recommend and commit modes. Log each run. Read the results. Repeat after any model or ranking change.
In commit mode, the agent really books, so run it only in a sandbox or test environment, never on live bookings. If there is none, ask the vendor to run the commit-mode tests.
A note on what this is
These tests are my own design, not a validated method. A few dozen runs show only clear problems, and fair differences such as availability can explain some results. The kit checks the tool, not anyone’s intent.
It does not test whether the agent tells the traveler that an option is sponsored. That is a separate check.
Tell me how it went
If you try the kit, I would love to hear what worked, what was unclear, and what you found. Message me on LinkedIn. I will not quote you or your company without your permission.
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Rajeev Goswami is CEO of WWStay and a member of the GBTA Technology Committee.
