Pick any hotel you like and search it twice. Once for 2 adults, once for 2 adults and two kids aged 5 and 9. Compare the room and the total. Go on, I’ll wait.
One Reddit user did exactly that across 14 hotels in Marrakesh. At every single one, the room and the total price changed once the kids were added. At 2 of them, the city tax doubled. So the price you saw for “2 adults” was a price for a different trip. 🧭
And your AI makes it worse. Ask it for a hotel price and it will cheerfully hand you the first number it finds, with no questions asked. It won’t tell you the number belongs to a room your family can’t sleep in. Fix that by telling it the real details up front.
🛠️ The 4 Details to Give Your AI First
- Who is actually coming, with ages. Not “a family”. Say “2 adults, kids aged 5 and 9”. Kids’ ages decide which room you can book and sometimes what tax you pay. Many hotels treat a 5-year-old and a 12-year-old very differently, so a vague “two kids” can hide a big price gap. If your child turns a new age bracket during the trip, mention that too.
- How many rooms or beds you need. A cheap double that “sleeps 4” on paper is not the same as a proper family room, and they are priced differently. Sometimes “sleeps 4” means two adults in the bed and two kids on a sofa that barely fits one. Make the AI tell you if the room changed because of the kids, instead of quietly swapping it. If you would rather have two connecting rooms or a suite with a separate bedroom, say that in the same breath so it doesn’t pick for you.
- Free cancellation or not. For the same room in the same hotel, the refundable price ran about 11% higher than the non-refundable one. That’s not a better or worse deal. It’s two different products. Make the AI show them as two separate lines and never compare one to the other. A quick way to think about it: you’re either paying less and locking in, or paying a bit more to keep your options open.
- The total for the whole stay. Not the price per night. Taxes and fees land at the end, and with kids they can shift. Ask for resort fees, cleaning fees and city tax to be included, because those are the sneaky ones that appear only on the last screen.
📋 The Prompt to Paste
“I’m travelling with 2 adults and 2 kids (ages 5 and 9) to [city], [dates]. Find hotels where all 4 of us fit in the room you recommend. Tell me if the room changed because of the kids. For each one, show the total for the whole stay with every tax and fee in, and show the refundable and non refundable price as two separate lines. If you’re not sure about a price, say so.”
Swap in your city, dates and kids’ ages. That’s it. Want to make it spicier? Add your budget ceiling and ask the AI to drop anything above it, so you only see options you would actually book.
🔍 What Your Results Mean
- The AI flags a room change: good. That’s the honest answer. Your “cheap” room was never going to fit four people.
- Two price lines per hotel: you’re now comparing like with like. Pick the refundable one if your plans might wobble, and treat the extra cost as insurance.
- A total much higher than the nightly rate times nights: that’s the taxes and fees doing their thing. Better to see it now than at the front desk.
- “I’m not sure about this price”: that is a feature. A tool that admits doubt beats one that guesses with confidence. 😉
- Every hotel looks suspiciously identical in price: the AI may be reusing one number. Ask it to name the source for each price and re-check any that look copy-pasted.
💡 Extra Tips
- The prompt works in any chat, but you get the best results when the AI can search live prices and book. The original poster mostly uses Claude with connectors from its directory (Booking.com, Tripadvisor, Brek and LetsFG are the ones they listed), and has started using ChatGPT too.
- Pick one connector first, then use it in your chat. Don’t stack them all at once.
- One commenter hit the same thing in Lisbon, where the city tax went from €2 to €4 per person per night once the child counted as a person. Small per night, real money over a week with two kids. So ask the AI to list the city tax separately.
- Run the search for two or three date options and ask the AI to put the totals side by side. Moving a trip by a day or two can change the family room price more than you’d expect.
- Always double check the final total on the booking page before you pay. The AI is your scout, not your accountant.
☠ Your Mission
Run the prompt on your next trip, then run the old “2 adults” search for the same hotel and compare. If the price jumped when the kids showed up, tell the crew how big it got in the comments! The Reddit author is curious too.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why does the total change when I add kids to the search?
Kids’ ages can change which rooms you’re allowed to book and what the city tax costs. In the Marrakesh test, all 14 hotels changed price once the kids were added, and two doubled the city tax. One reader saw Lisbon’s tax jump from €2 to €4 per night per person once their kid was counted, which adds up over a week. Enter the exact ages in your first search so the price you compare is the one you’ll pay.
Q: Could the AI quietly switch me to a different room?
It can, and booking sites do the same thing. The prompt asks the AI to say whether the room changed because of the kids, so you can see if you’re now looking at a family room instead of the double you first picked. Check the room type on the final booking page before you pay.
Q: Should I compare refundable and non-refundable prices directly?
Not directly. In the same hotel and room, the refundable price was about 11% higher, so they’re two different products. Ask the AI to list each one as its own line and only compare options that carry the same cancellation terms.
Q: Does this prompt only work with certain AI tools?
It works in any chat, but you’ll get better results when the AI can search live prices. Keep the line asking it to say so if it isn’t sure about a price, since that flags any number it can’t confirm.
A prompt to run 4 things with your AI before it searches a hotel for your familyB
by u/Calm_Cartographer324 in ChatGPTPromptGenius