Before I start, let me set something straight: I love AI.
I feel like I have a personal relationship with ChatGPT, and Claude is practically my assistant. I use them every day, personally and professionally, and they have changed the way I work.
That is exactly why I am worried.
We have become so comfortable with AI that we are forgetting something important:
AI does not have judgment.
It can analyze, summarize, compare and organize enormous amounts of information, and present it very convincingly. But it does not know whether a source is current, whether a company still operates in a destination, or whether the name at the top of the list is right for your client and your program.
Recently, I received AI-generated recommendations that included companies no longer operating in the destination, along with information from websites I would never trust to influence a purchasing decision. When I challenged the results, the response was essentially, “You are right. I’m sorry.”
Here is my uncomfortable opinion. A growing number of sourcing decisions are being made by whoever shows up first in an AI response. That is not research. It is a popularity contest, and the winner is often the company with the biggest digital footprint, not the strongest operation.
Is digital footprint starting to carry more weight than operational evidence?
A company with an amazing website, years of online content and a presence everywhere in search results may be exactly what it appears to be. Or it may be a polished brand with a thin operation behind it. Meanwhile, a company with a much smaller footprint may be quietly delivering exceptional programs every week. So are we evaluating performance, or are we evaluating visibility?
They are not the same thing.
And this matters in our industry. We are not buying shoes online. We are selecting a hotel, a destination management company (DMC), a transportation provider or venue that will be responsible for hundreds of guests, significant budgets and, quite frankly, our professional reputations.
Here is why a polished AI list deserves scrutiny: AI assembles its answers from what has been published. Old webpages stay indexed. Former partnerships stay online. Directory listings go stale. Companies change ownership, enter markets and leave them. AI takes all of that and gives us an answer that sounds completely confident.
A confident answer is not a current fact.
I am not saying we should stop using AI for sourcing. I am saying we should stop letting it finish the job. An AI-generated shortlist should be the beginning of due diligence, not the end of it.
Stop Asking “Who Is the Best?”
There is no such thing as the best DMC. There is only the best fit. Best for what? A 30-person executive incentive? A 1,000-person convention? A luxury group? A highly produced event? A complicated transportation program? A group coming from the United States, Europe or Latin America?
The more context you give AI, the more useful the research becomes. Ask which companies currently maintain local operations, which have recent experience with programs like yours, which regularly handle your group size and which understand your source market. Then ask: What sources are you using, and how current is this information? Make AI explain itself.
Verify the Evidence
If AI recommends a supplier, challenge the recommendation. Is the company operating in the destination today? Does it have an active local team? Has it managed comparable programs in the last 12 to 18 months? When was the information published? Then open the sources yourself.
Your attendees will not experience a website. They will experience the operation.
Does the DMC Understand Your Market?
Knowing a destination extremely well is not the same as knowing your market. Some DMCs work primarily with European groups. Others understand the North American incentive market. Others focus on Latin America, associations, leisure groups or something else entirely. Each market has different expectations around communication, response times, contracting, budget transparency, reporting and service recovery.
Ask whether the DMC regularly works with clients like you. Then ask for references from those clients, not testimonials on a website. Ask what went well, what did not, and, especially, what happened when something changed.
That answer will tell you more than any brochure.
Who Actually Owns Your Program?
Websites tell you about companies. Programs are delivered by people.
You may know the owner. You may love the salesperson. You may have met someone fantastic at a trade show. But once the contract is signed, who actually owns your program? Who is your senior contact? Who makes the operational decisions? Who coordinates suppliers? Who will physically be there? When something goes wrong, who has the authority to fix it?
Because something will change. A flight will be delayed. Weather will happen. A venue will change something. A guest will make an unexpected request. That is our industry. And when it happens, you are not dealing with a search result.
You are dealing with a person.
Use AI to Become a Better Buyer
This is where AI is at its best. Do not ask it to make the decision. Use it to make you better at deciding.
Ask what insurance documentation to request. Ask which credentials matter. Ask which contract clauses deserve attention. Ask it to compare proposals, identify gaps in a scope of work and point out risks you may have missed. Use it to challenge your assumptions and organize your information.
AI can make you a better buyer without becoming the buyer.
A Quick Checklist
Before an AI-recommended supplier makes your shortlist, confirm that:
- They operate in the destination today, with a local team
- They have run programs like yours in the last 12 to 18 months
- They understand your source market, and clients like you will vouch for them
- You know your senior contact, and who steps in when plans change
- Their insurance, contracts and credentials check out
AI Is a Tool. Judgment Is Still Ours.
AI will become an even bigger part of how our industry researches, sources and plans, and I am all for it. I will keep using it every day.
But access to information is not judgment. Visibility is not performance. A ranking is not due diligence.
Use AI to discover, research, compare and challenge your thinking. Then verify. So before your next sourcing decision, ask yourself one question:
Am I using AI to inform my judgment, or to replace it?
AI can help build the shortlist. Human due diligence should determine who makes the cut.