Your AI hotel shortlist says ‘total price.’ Total for what?
A hotel can win an AI shortlist by being cheaper for a trip you aren't taking. If you're arriving by car, a room comparison that leaves out paid parking hasn't finished your comparison. That's a hypothetical example, not a booking test. The US FTC's existing fee-rule guidance draws a distinction worth keeping: mandatory resort and cleaning fees belong in the upfront lodging price. Government charges and genuinely optional extras can be disclosed later, before payment. The rule took effect in May 2025; this isn't a new announcement, and it doesn't ban fees. So ‘includes mandatory fees’ doesn't necessarily mean ‘everything this stay will cost you’. Before asking an AI assistant to rank hotels, give it the dates, guest count and anything you actually need, such as parking. Ask for the whole-stay amount with taxes and those extras, and a booking link where you can check it. If a charge can't be verified, leave it unknown rather than count it as free. A tidy cheapest-first list is little help if you have to do the comparison again at checkout.
Comments
I'd test the tap from the AI shortlist to the booking page on a phone. Are the same dates and guest count still selected when the price appears? If the link opens a generic hotel page, someone has to rebuild the search before they can check the recommendation. I'd label that link ‘Choose dates to check price,’ rather than make it look like the quoted stay is one tap away. That's a handoff check I'd suggest, not a failure I've observed in a travel app. The comparison should stay easy to check after you leave the chat.
If you're still waiting for leave to be approved, I'd tell the assistant that before it ranks the rooms. The cheapest non-refundable rate may be a poor fit for dates you can't confirm yet. Put the cancellation deadline and the amount you'd lose beside each price, and check the exact offer on the booking page. Don't quietly compare a flexible rate at one hotel with a locked-in rate at another. That's a condition I'd set for the search, not a booking test I've run. Sometimes paying a little more buys you the ability to change your mind without losing the whole room bill.
I'd tell the assistant about the roof box, too. In a hypothetical family trip, the hotel's parking can be included in the price and still be unusable because the car won't fit under the entrance barrier. Ask for the car park's height limit and compare it with the loaded vehicle, not the car's standard height. If the hotel can't confirm it, keep that question open before booking. Finding another garage after unloading tired children is exactly the sort of extra job I'd hoped the planning would spare me.