Airbnb Lets You Add a Private Chef to Your Rental. Your Host Might Not Like It.
The hosts who own the condos, cottages and houses aren't so sure.
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Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Hospitality Worker in Spain Issues Viral Anti-Tourist PSA: 'A Nightmare'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A British hospitality worker in Spain has revealed how daily life has turned into a "nightmare" in their community due to unchecked tourism. The 23-year-old man described growing up in a small seaside town in the south of the European country, where visitors arrived briefly in summer, then left residents to their routines. Today, that rhythm has gone. Housing Fears "Now, it's just floods of tourists all year round no matter the season," the man vented on Reddit as user Thinkshespecial. The original poster (OP) described how the town's narrow sidewalks are regularly clogged by slow-moving tourist groups and how housing has become increasingly inaccessible. "Rent is insane because most properties are now holiday rentals," the OP pointed out, adding that he fears losing his apartment to Airbnb after a two-year search to find it. File image: Tourists walk around a European town. File image: Tourists walk around a European town. Peter Adams/iStock/Getty Images Plus Working in hospitality, user Thinkshespecial claimed that guests often treat staff members poorly, ignore their children and act entitled about late-night service. "They get pissy when it's 2 a.m. and you're telling them they need to leave," he said. "I also have a family that I want to go home to." Though he expressed sympathy for people wanting a break, the post ended with a plea for basic respect. "I love traveling," the OP wrote, "but... is common decency just not a thing anymore?" 'Lowkey insane' In a message to Newsweek via Reddit, the hospitality worker noted that, "Spain is a social country that's number-one pass time is to go out for meals or drinks, so the idea that my place of work is open because of tourists is lowkey insane since a good 80% of our clientele are locals from the area." The man emphasized that he was in no way saying people should not take holidays, or go on vacations, "but there's a huge difference between going on holiday and destroying a place just because you don't live there and feel like you can. "This is obviously not aimed at all tourists, plenty are great people, but the post was a vent about feeling overwhelmed and pushed out by tourists, which is a sentiment most locals share," the OP told Newsweek. Global Workers Raise Similar Issues The worker's frustrations were felt by commentators around the world, amid more than 700 comments on Reddit within four days online. An individual on the Virgin Islands recalled, "They'd come to the beach all day. Then, when they'd leave, they'd say, 'We love this island! We love your beautiful beaches! How does it feel to live in paradise?!' Meanwhile, leaving nothing but trash in their wake." Another person from Greece wrote, "We get flooded with 30 million tourists a year and most of them throw garbage and are just completely rude." A sympathizer in Japan added, "I get it, tourism boosts the economy and brings in money, but for who? Not us working at the bottom for sure." Airbnb culture also came under criticism. "The amount of people in the comments who don't see the problem with Airbnb culture is staggering," one critic lamented. "OP, I don't blame you at all, I'm sorry your hometown was ruined." 'Not welcome here' Beyond Reddit, frustrations with tourist behavior have surfaced in cities around the globe. In Asheville, North Carolina, a woman was wrongly accused of being a tourist after another resident of the area left a note on her car saying, "Tourists are ruining Asheville. You are not welcome here! Go home," as Newsweek covered. In Venice, Italy, a visitor staying in an Airbnb was startled to discover that their bedroom window opened directly into another room, Newsweek reported, prompting questions from others online. New All-Time High According to a report by the World Travel & Tourism Council, "by 2025 the travel and tourism sector in Spain could reach a new all-time high, with an estimated contribution of €260.5 billion [$304.3 billion] to [gross domestic product], equivalent to almost 16% of the national economy." The report went on: "By 2025, spending by international tourists is expected to reach €113.2 billion [$132.2 billion], with a year-on-year growth of 5.7%, while domestic spending could reach €84.9 billion [$99.1 billion], 2.4% more than the previous year." Newsweek's "What Should I Do?" offers expert advice to readers. If you have a personal dilemma, let us know via life@ We can ask experts for advice on relationships, family, friends, money and work, and your story could be featured on WSID at Newsweek. To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, click here.
CNET
5 hours ago
- CNET
AI Has Made My Trip Planning Easier. What to Know if You're Headed on a Summer Road Trip
If you're planning a summer road trip, you're sure to be one of many on the road. If you're anything like me, you really like spontaneous, unplanned trips but don't like organizing things ahead -- but it's definitely a good idea to think about your route now so you can avoid the worst of the traffic and figure out what you can see along the way. A friend sent me a list of different artificial intelligence tools they used to make trip planning easier. This list included Curiosio, an AI trip planning tool that provides a map, budget and calculated trip length for you within seconds. My ears perked up imagining its potential output speed. Now Playing: I Used Google's Gemini Gem to Plan My Trip 05:19 What is Curiosio AI? My nonnegotiables for an AI trip planner list include a bright and accessible interface, little to no fees and inspiration for my upcoming trip. Curiosio delivered. The tool was created by Vas Mylko and Roman Bilusiak to support solo, budget-conscious and multistop travelers seeking personalized road trip experiences that feature cost breakdowns and flexible itineraries. The free, AI-powered platform offers features like route optimization, detailed itineraries with maps, cost and time breakdowns and detailed guides to destinations. Between its Geek, Travel and Beta modes, Curiosio compiles quite a few tools to help navigate and embellish your getaway, regardless of what kind of adventure you're going on. What I particularly enjoyed about Curiosio was the focus on road trips instead of trying to be an all-in-one travel planner. I also enjoyed its country-specific branding, which includes a hot air balloon adorned with each nation's flag, and its typeface that is reminiscent of an Indiana Jones PC game. With many sleek, yet sterile, tech brands on the market, I thought this gave the website a sweet touch. How to use Curiosio for AI road trip planning Curiosio/Screenshot by CNET Let's first break down the three modes within Curiosio: Travel, Geek and Beta. Travel Mode is for travelers or busybodies who want a simplified, real-time guide. Needless to say, I fall into this category. Here, you can follow your itinerary with directions and context-aware tips. This is perfect if you want hands-off-the-wheel support. There's also Geek Mode, for the detail-driven, perfectionist folks who want control over every detail of their trip. Direct that friend or partner over to this mode so they can put all that energy in Curiosio, and not on you. Here you can customize routing, add filters and use logic to the best of your planning ability. And Beta Mode is for the innovative, experimental type who not only thrives off novelty, but loves diving into a new thing before anyone else. Here you can get access to AI enhancements (and bugs) but also try out new features. At the time of writing, Curiosio was developing its membership to focus on the travel experience. This is how to use Curiosio's travel tool: Head to the website and enter your country. Once selected, navigate to the top and select Travel to enter your starting point and desired destination(s) for your road trip. Specify dates, duration and your budget preferences. Let the AI do its thing and create a personalized road trip plan. Curiosio promises that this will not take longer than 100 seconds. For reference, my plans were generated in about 35 seconds. Review the suggested routes. My output generated four itineraries, ranging in budget and trip length. You can toggle to see the full itinerary breakdown, including a day-by-day itinerary, hotels and budget allocation. Modify by adding or removing the destination to start over, or adjust the travel dates or budget to better fit your needs. Once you're satisfied, finalize your itinerary. This is where you can export the plan to your preferred format or integrate with other mapping tools. Head to the upper right corner of your trip itinerary and select Google Maps from the dropdown menu, or copy the link over to your preferred GPS system. Then use Google Maps or your GPS system to monitor real-time traffic, plus check out any interesting spots between your starting point and your trip's destination. (Though an integrated traffic monitoring system would be a beneficial addition to Curiosio.) Should you use AI to plan your road trip? Curiosio planned a trip to Jackson Hole for me. Curiosio/Screenshot by CNET Curiosio is a simple yet ideal tool for independent travelers who crave flexibility, customization and a touch of adventure -- especially those planning multistop road trips. I see it as a great fit for digital nomads, couples, small groups or anyone taking a chaotic road trip with family who wants a streamlined way to create detailed itineraries without relying on prepackaged tours. If you're someone who enjoys the planning process but wants help optimizing routes while also discovering hidden gems, Curiosio can be a time-saving, dopamine-boosting tool. It's also particularly useful for travelers who are budget-conscious but still want well-rounded travel experiences with context tailored to the places they're going. I found the tool easy to navigate, and it definitely helped me save time. Now, Curiosio might not be the best choice for travelers seeking all-inclusive vacations, group tours or very spontaneous getaways. If you prefer to book flights and resorts, or if your travel is centered around staying in one city the entire time, the platform's road trip-focused approach may feel unnecessary and somewhat rudimentary. It's safe to say that if you're seeking an easy, functional and road trip-focused AI tool to support and speed up your planning process, Curiosio is a simple yet functional option. Planning in seconds is an ideal compromise. Now, if only it could pack for me, too.
CNET
6 hours ago
- CNET
Want to Travel on a Budget? Here's How ChatGPT Helps You Save Big
You can use AI to help save extra cash for your dream vacation. Akinbostanci/Getty Images The heat is on, and so is the urge to get away. Whether you're thinking ahead to a late-summer vacation or just want a change of scenery before fall hits, it's the perfect time to start mapping out your plans-and figuring out how to save for them. I've got my sights set on Montreal and Québec City, and to help make that happen, I turned to artificial intelligence for some budget guidance. I used ChatGPT to help lay the groundwork for my trip, since it's come in handy before as a kind of personal coach. It's not a replacement for a financial advisor, but it's great for offering general money-saving ideas and helping me think through where I can cut costs. With a few practical suggestions and some planning ahead, that dream trip feels a lot more within reach. If you're using ChatGPT to help plan your vacation, you could also ask questions beyond finances, like where to go, when to travel and how to find the best deals and affordable options for your budget. AI, it's adventure time. Prep your first prompt For ChatGPT to give good savings recommendations, you need to feed it as much context as possible, including your goals, dates and clear parameters. Specifically, you should share the destination, trip length, desired budget and some info on your current financial situation. If you have a financial tracking app, you can download the past three months of your spending activity and upload it into ChatGPT. If you don't, then this could be a good time to start a personal budget. Here are some budgeting apps to consider, CNET's expert tips on savings and advice on how to stick to your saving goals, as well as some mistakes to avoid when you're saving money. See also: Is AI the Answer to Your Money Problems? We're Starting to Find Out Alternatively, though it requires more manual labor than using a budgeting app, you could upload the past 30 days of your financial activity into a spreadsheet and group it into categories. Just always be wary of sharing sensitive personal or financial information with AI tools due to security risks. To avoid ChatGPT knowing too much financial information about me, I'm using estimates for this example. For my first prompt, I told ChatGPT I'm planning to go to Montreal and Québec City for a week, and expect the trip will cost approximately $3,000. I also mentioned my yearly earnings after tax; my monthly take-home pay; my monthly expenses like rent, groceries, dining out, yoga classes and subscriptions; and how much I set aside for investing and savings, leaving me with around $1,200 per month to use for the trip. Make sure you also include your minimum monthly payment for your credit card and any other debt you need to pay down. ChatGPT gave me several strategies to save, including ordering in and dining out less, reducing grocery spending, pausing my yoga classes while saving for this goal, cutting my subscriptions temporarily and limiting spontaneous purchases. Here's some of what it suggested: Screenshot by Amanda Smith/CNET Be sure to double check all of ChatGPT's numbers, though, because it's frequently wrong. Choose ChatGPT as a first step, but don't rely on it for financial advice. Make your prompts more granular You can get even more granular advice by uploading all of your meal receipts to see where you can save on ordering in, or asking ChatGPT what types of meals you're spending the most money on (and try to make them yourself at home instead). Once your vacation is over, you could also save all the receipts from the trip, load them into ChatGPT and spot spending trends to factor into future trips. Ask for travel tips I also wanted to know if ChatGPT had any handy tips for traveling to Montreal/Québec City during the summer. The advice was pretty generic, such as booking early and avoiding tourist traps, but it did suggest checking out Passeport MTL for discounted attractions. I continued to prod to see what ChatGPT could provide non-locals, and it gave me ideas like the cheapest neighborhoods and restaurants to dine in, the BYOB spots to avoid alcohol markups and to drink tap water in Québec City, given the excellent water quality. AI won't give you all the answers, but it will inspire ideas on savings -- both before you leave and while you're on vacation. You could even download the ChatGPT app to answer your money and Montreal questions while on the go. Just remember that whatever info you put into ChatGPT won't necessarily remain confidential. It will be used to train the AI model, so it provides better answers in the future, unless you disable your chat history (though OpenAI still saves it for 30 days). Reputable budgeting apps have a lot more security and may provide better answers than AI at this point. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
