Real Agent Cases

Plan a family road trip with playground stops and a dog-friendly hotel with Grok

Posted
by Jeff Binek (Cbus AI Agents)
Last checked
Method:
How we verify

Evidence: Described by posterThe person describes what happened in words, without screenshots or video.

Outcome

Jeff Binek, a gym owner in Dublin, Ohio, asked Grok to plan a two-day drive from Columbus to Hilton Head via Charlotte with three kids under four and a dog, stopping every 2.5 hours at safe playgrounds near gas stations. He says it gave precise timing and distances, gas prices, three park options per stop and a dog-friendly hotel, and the family reversed the same plan on the way home.

Agent

Grok

Prompt Original prompt

Exact prompt as published in the source.

I’m taking a road trip from Columbus, Ohio to Charlotte, NC and staying the night, then finishing the drive to Hilton Head the next morning. I’m bringing three small kids under 4, my dog, my wife and myself. I need to stop every 2.5 hours, preferably at a nice playground in a safe neighborhood with gas stations nearby. We’re packing our food. I also need the best dog-friendly, family-friendly hotel with a good breakfast along our route in or near Charlotte.
Optional stronger version

Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.

Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to.

Goal: Plan a family road trip with regular stops at safe playgrounds near fuel, and a family- and dog-friendly overnight hotel.

Fill in before running:
- Start, overnight city and destination: [START] → [OVERNIGHT] → [END]
- Who's travelling: [ADULTS, KIDS' AGES, PETS]
- Stop every: [e.g. 2.5 hours]
- Food plan: [packing our own / need restaurants]
- Hotel needs: [pets allowed, breakfast, budget per night]

Rules:
- Give each leg with distance, drive time and the clock time we'd arrive if we leave at [TIME].
- For each stop, offer 2–3 playground or park options close to the highway and a nearby fuel station.
- Prefer parks with restrooms and shade; say if you couldn't confirm that.
- For the hotel, confirm the pet policy and fees on the hotel's own site, and give 2 options on our route.
- If a site asks for a login, a CAPTCHA or payment details, stop and hand control back to me.
- Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.
- Add a backup stop for each leg in case a park is closed or busy.

Output: A leg-by-leg itinerary table (leg, distance, time, stop options, fuel), then the hotel options with price, pet fee and breakfast.

You'll know it worked when: every stop is within about 10 minutes of the route, the gaps match my stop interval, and the hotel accepts our pet.

Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.

Source

https://newsletter.cbusaiagents.com/p/ai-agents-explained-columbus-small-business

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