Gemini can draft a trip plan in minutes

Google’s Gemini can put together a usable vacation plan in just a few minutes, according to a ZDNET test built around a prompt first used by contributor Elyse Betters Picaro.

Betters Picaro used Gemini to create what she described as a “starter doc” for a family trip to Disney World. Her prompt asked Gemini to build a late-August itinerary in a Google Doc, including flight options from Fort Covington, NY, Airbnb suggestions for eight people with a pool near Disney World, plus time for the beach and a visit to Kennedy Space Center.

“Autopilot took over my screen, created a doc in one tab, opened Airbnb in another tab, and so on. I found a lot of what it returned very useful.”

When ZDNET reran the test in Gemini 3.5 in Chrome, the tool created a Google Doc and summarized several trip options in chat. It suggested Montréal (YUL), about 1.5 hours away, and Syracuse (SYR), about 3.5 hours away, as better airport options than nearby Massena for cheaper flights to Orlando (MCO). Gemini cited late-August round-trip fares as low as about $230 from Syracuse on United, or a direct flight from Montréal on Air Canada for around $405.

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For lodging, Gemini recommended areas such as Kissimmee, Davenport, Windsor Hills, and ChampionsGate, saying they offer 4+ bedroom villas for 8 guests with private screened-in pools and are 10–20 minutes from Disney World. It also said Kennedy Space Center is about a 75-minute drive from Disney, is open daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM in late August, and lists 1-day admission at $77 per adult and $67 per child.

ZDNET said the results were generally accurate and useful, though not perfect. In one run, Gemini did not open an Airbnb tab, and while the chat included accommodation links, the generated document did not. A flight table imported from Google Flights was also truncated in the doc.

Auto Browse, ChatGPT, and Airbnb issues

ZDNET also tested the same prompt in Thinking and Flash modes and found little difference in the resulting documents. A comparable test in ChatGPT produced similar travel suggestions, but ChatGPT could not create a Google Doc without a Google Workspace connector, meaning users would need to copy and paste the response manually.

A second test used a more constrained prompt for a 4-day trip to Paris in late September, excluding flights, setting an Airbnb budget under $600 total for two people, and explicitly asking Gemini not to include the Louvre. Gemini followed the Louvre instruction and suggested other art museums, but ZDNET said it would have been more useful if it had included museum opening days.

Betters Picaro’s later Auto Browse tests exposed another issue: Gemini appeared to steer toward Google Hotels instead of Airbnb, even after being asked for Airbnb listings. According to ZDNET, Gemini may favor Google’s own services over third-party platforms, even when that conflicts with the prompt.

Users with access to Auto Browse can enable it in Chrome by going to the three vertical dots in the upper-right corner and selecting Settings > AI Innovations > Gemini in Chrome, then turning on “Let Chrome browse for you” under Auto Browse.