The MVT Advisory Committee consists of a diverse group of advisors who volunteer to meet quarterly. Their goal is to discuss the impact of travel within their areas of expertise, helping YTC/MVT better understand the needs of advisors and identify opportunities where MVT can offer support. Current members include Kristi Huss and Brittany Shiffler (Travel Savvi); Dora Bitsos (Your Travel Center); John Clifford, Jim Welch, and Julie Welch (Amaze Travel); Carl Fabruada (TripMatters); Mishelle Ying (Bi-Coastal Travel); and Shelly Collins (Level 9 Travel).
In our most recent call, the group focused on how each used AI in their everyday workload. Check the list below to see if there is an AI success story in your future:
• Use ChatGPT with a Canva plug-in to create social media posts
• Use ChatGPT as a “cheat sheet” to quickly organize (at a high level) travel itineraries for clients before creating a more fully researched itinerary for them
• Use ChatGPT as a sophisticated search engine
o Success Story: One agent needed a villa in the Caribbean with 6-8 bedrooms—a difficult task. They asked ChatGPT to create a list of Villas. While not perfect, it saved quite a bit of time from a tedious research project.
• Use AI to solve travel issues
o Success story: An advisor used AI to find the most likely person to resolve a conflict with a client check-in issue. The request went something like this: Search LinkedIn for the most likely person to resolve “x issue” at xxx resort. Three options (people) were returned to the advisor, who then sent an urgent request to all three email addresses. The advisors received a reply from one of the contacts, who then solved the client’s issue at check-in.
• Use AI to condense itinerary descriptions to share with a client
o Success Story. The advisor added a lengthy Viator tour description (cut and paste) to ChatGPT with the command to reduce the content to three descriptive sentences that could be used to present to the client.
• Use AI to re-work itineraries in the case of emergencies
o Success story: The advisor had clients traveling to Taiwan in 3-4 days when an earthquake hit the area. The advisor used AI to rework the 6-day itinerary to avoid the earthquake area, and then provided this information to the DMC, who could quickly make those trip adjustments and keep the trip from cancelling.
• Use AI when in a time crunch
o Success Story: A client called while on vacation, wanting to extend their trip to include three days in Oslo. Using Perplexity, the advisor asked for the top things to do in Oslo for a three-day trip. Not only were top attractions listed, but Perplexity also prompted with additional questions that the advisor may not have considered, such as “what to do on a rainy day in Oslo.” Ironically, it rained on the trip, and the clients were covered (literally and figuratively). All of this was done in a fraction of the time of traditional research.

Other tips included:
• A paid subscription improves the quality of the AI algorithm, and using a team subscription allows for collaboration and memory of past conversations. It may be worth the few dollars spent per month.
• Perplexity is a source that will also ask you if you want answers to questions that you had yet to think to ask.
• Recommendations from Virtuoso Symposium AI class
o Switch your browser landing page to ChatGPT or Perplexity
o Get into the habit of using tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity in place of Google
o Explore FuturePedia (AI Tool directory) to identify potential solutions
o Look into getting a ChatGPT Pro subscription
o Recommended newsletter: The Rundown

Key AI Take Aways:
• Be more creative in utilizing AI to streamline processes and find specific information, such as rooftop pool hotels or villa rentals with specific criteria
• Explore AI tools such as ChatGPT and Canva plugins for social media posts
• Consider paying for a subscription to ChatGPT for higher-quality algorithms
• Explore the use of the Teams subscription level for multiple people using ChatGPT and take advantage of the memory feature
• Consider using AI for quick answers and research in domestic travel requests
• Load documents into ChatGPT for easy access to checklists and information
• Consider integrating ChatGPT with CRM systems to provide personalized recommendations based on client history and preferences
• Improve prompting to enhance the accuracy and relevance of AI responses