AI Travel Oddities
Strange, wrong or outdated things AI assistants say when travelers ask where to go, eat and stay.
Each oddity below was observed in a real answer from GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet 5, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Perplexity Sonar to one of the travel questions TakeScout asks every month. Answers come from each provider's API model, not their consumer apps. Every oddity was then checked by a human against a source before being published here.
- Perplexity moves Edmonton's top restaurant to Calgary
Listed under Calgary
- GPT books families into a Vegas hotel that closed in 2024
Recommended as a top family hotel with volcano show and Dolphin Habitat
- Gemini declares Ottawa's famous jail hostel closed. It isn't
Gemini: closed permanently 2023; Claude: HI Ottawa Jail Hostel; GPT: Ottawa Jail Hostel (no brand); Perplexity: Saintlo (correct)
- Claude gives Brandon zero restaurant visibility
Names no restaurants
- GPT sends skiers to a Georgia hill closed for 20 years
Georgia's ski resort for winter sports
- Gemini moves a top Cape Breton trail across the island
Located in Ingonish
- Claude misnames and misplaces Halifax's signature rink
Halifax Oval in Garrison Grounds
- Gemini invents a Grand Forks boutique hotel?
Boutique hotel in downtown Grand Forks
- AI still books you a table at a restaurant that no longer exists
All four AI assistants still recommend Chez Muffy at the Auberge Saint-Antoine. In the October 2 check it appeared in 25 restaurant and food-experience answers; Perplexity picked it first for a romantic dinner and GPT-4o ranked it #2 among the best restaurants for couples.
- Two AIs still send families to a zoo that closed in 2012
Recommended as a family attraction in 7 answers across 4 questions.
- Gemini can't agree with itself on who Thompson is named after
Gemini says Thompson is named after explorer David Thompson; in another answer it says both David Thompson and John F. Thompson.
- Ask Claude where to eat in Thompson and you get no names
Claude names zero restaurants in 4 Thompson food answers.
- Gemini keeps moving Thompson's giant wolf mural
Across different answers, Gemini places the mural on a grain silo, on a water tower near the Vale Inco greenhouse, and on a 10-story 'Vale high-rise', calling it 'The Batoche Mural'.
- AI still calls it Dover Downs, five years after the rebrand
Recommended under its old name for rainy days and family stays.
- The Green Room keeps coming back in AI answers
Presented as Hotel du Pont's current fine-dining restaurant in luxury-hotel answers.
- GPT-4o's top Massachusetts romantic hotel is in Vermont
Listed first among Massachusetts' most romantic hotels, placed in the Berkshires.
- Claude still thinks the Original Pantry never closes
Described as open 24/7.
- Gemini turned a Trois-Rivières sugar shack into a snack bar
Listed as a budget casse-croûte for club sandwiches and poutine.