# Build Your AI Travel Advisor — The Intake Questionnaire

Answer these and you'll have written 90% of your prompt. Each section maps
one-to-one to a heading in the template — when you're done, paste your answers
under the matching heading, smooth the sentences, and you're live.

Two rules while you answer:
1. Be specific. "We like good food" teaches the AI nothing. "We'll take a
   plastic-stool street grill over a white-tablecloth Michelin most nights"
   teaches it everything.
2. Be honest, especially about the negative stuff. The places you disliked
   and the fights you've had about hotels are the highest-value data here.

---

## SECTION A — The Trip Skeleton
(maps to: WHO YOU ARE + HARD CONSTRAINTS)

A1. Where does the trip start, and on what date?
A2. How long is it — and is the end date fixed, soft, or open?
A3. What dates are truly immovable? (events, weddings, flights already booked,
    people joining you, school starts) List each with its date.
A4. Any visa clocks or entry limits? (e.g., Schengen 90/180, UK 6-month rule)
    If you don't know, write "CHECK" — and make the AI verify it.
A5. Regions in play / regions out of play:
A6. What's your rough shape? (one base? a loop? a one-way arc ending
    somewhere specific?)

## SECTION B — Who's Traveling
(maps to: WHO WE ARE)

B1. Who's on the trip? Names, ages if relevant, relationship.
B2. Is anyone working during the trip? Who, what kind of work, how many
    hours, and which hours of the day are locked vs. flexible?
B3. Whose schedule is LESS flexible? (This person's needs shape base choices.)
B4. When your tastes conflict — hotels, pace, aesthetics — who wins, and why?
    (Don't skip this. Naming a tiebreaker kills a whole category of bad
    recommendations.)
B5. Any health, mobility, dietary, or energy realities the AI should plan
    around silently? (stairs, heat tolerance, allergies, early riser vs.
    night owl)
B6. Are you documenting the trip publicly? If yes: does content value get a
    vote in destination choice — and where's the line?

## SECTION C — Travel History: The Calibration Engine
(maps to: WHAT WE RESPOND TO — this is the most valuable section)

C1. List 5-8 places you've LOVED. For each, one line on WHY it worked.
    (Not "it was beautiful" — what was the mechanism? Food density? Alpine
    drama? Real local life? Walkability?)
C2. Name 2-3 places that were nice but got BORING. How many days did each
    take to go stale? (This number is one of the most useful signals you can
    give an AI.)
C3. Name 1-3 places you actively DISLIKED, and the honest reason.
C4. Look at your three lists. What patterns do you see? Try finishing these:
    - "________ beats ________ for us." (e.g., interesting > opulent,
      lived-in > resort-y)
    - "A place holds our attention when it has ________."
    - "We always regret ________."
C5. Places already visited that should be EXCLUDED from recommendations:

## SECTION D — The Aesthetic Filter
(maps to: AESTHETIC CALIBRATION)

D1. Does anyone in the group have a strong visual filter? Whose?
D2. Describe it with examples. Useful spectrum: maintained-old (polished
    stone, restored facades) vs. peeling-old (crumbling stucco, ruin chic,
    laundry-strung decay). Which side are you on? Any exceptions (e.g.,
    ancient ruins where the age IS the story)?
D3. Name one real place that nails your aesthetic, and one that violates it.

## SECTION E — Pace, Lodging, and Daily Life
(maps to: HARD CONSTRAINTS + lodging rules)

E1. Minimum and ideal nights per base? (Be honest — do you actually enjoy
    moving every 3 days, or does it wreck you?)
E2. Apartments or hotels as the default — and why? What must the lodging
    have? (kitchen, washer, elevator, workspace, AC, quiet)
E3. What's a lodging dealbreaker you've actually hit before?
E4. Luggage reality: checked bags or carry-on only? How many bags total?
E5. Connectivity floor: what Wi-Fi speed do you genuinely need, and can you
    tolerate a base without it? Time-zone limits for calls?
E6. Describe your ideal ordinary day on this trip — morning to night. (This
    one question teaches the AI more about pacing than any list of rules.)

## SECTION F — Food & Experiences
(maps to: WHAT WE RESPOND TO, the pattern section)

F1. Where does food rank among your selection filters — the lead, a strong
    supporting layer, or background?
F2. Street food / hole-in-the-wall vs. fine dining: what's your honest mix?
F3. Name the single best meal of your traveling life and what made it great.
F4. What experience types are worth planning a whole leg around? (natural
    spectacle, hikes, dive sites, music scenes, wine regions, markets,
    once-only events)
F5. What do other travelers love that does NOTHING for you? (museums?
    beaches? nightlife? guided tours?)

## SECTION G — Money
(maps to: BUDGET FRAMEWORK)

G1. Monthly all-in rhythm in your currency (lodging, food, local transport,
    experiences — list your exclusions):
G2. What splurge categories are pre-authorized? (once-in-a-trip lodging,
    hard-to-repeat experiences, escaping bad weather, family segments)
G3. What's your splurge ceiling before the AI should stop and ask?
G4. What spending genuinely annoys you even when you can afford it?
    (tourist-trap luxury? paying peak-season prices? bad-value fine dining?)

## SECTION H — Getting Around
(maps to: HARD CONSTRAINTS + transport philosophy)

H1. Budget airlines: a feature, a tolerable evil, or a no?
H2. Trains and ferries: default when reasonable, or only when clearly better?
H3. Will you rent cars? Anyone unwilling to drive abroad?
H4. Any transport hard rules? (no 5am departures, no triple connections,
    full-service carriers for certain legs)

## SECTION I — How You Want It To Talk To You
(maps to: TONE + HOW TO THINK)

I1. Decisive single recommendations, or a menu of 2-3 options you pick from?
I2. How much pushback do you want when it disagrees with your plan —
    none, gentle, or full contact?
I3. Locked itineraries or a living menu of next-moves? (If your dates are
    mostly soft, say so — "offer, don't dictate" is a powerful instruction.)
I4. Pet peeves in how AI or guidebooks talk? (hedging, brochure language,
    over-formatting, burying the answer)

## SECTION J — The Privacy Line
(for you, not for the prompt)

J1. What goes in your PRIVATE version only — medical, financial, contacts,
    security details? List it now so it never leaks into a version you share.
J2. If you publish or share your prompt later, what gets replaced with
    brackets?

---

## FINAL ASSEMBLY (10 minutes)

1. Open the template. Paste each section's answers under its matching
   heading (the "maps to" labels above tell you where).
2. Turn fragments into sentences. Keep your own voice — the AI calibrates
   to it.
3. Add the evolution rule verbatim: "Treat our preferences as hypotheses
   being tested through experience — not laws."
4. Pin it as project instructions. Then report back after every place you
   visit, one sentence per verdict. That feedback loop — not the prompt —
   is what makes it good.

— @HomeFreeCEO