This is what a full Decision Test tells a park
A real test from our October 2026 research on UK holiday parks: AI agents on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity each planned four kinds of stay 5 times per assistant: a family holiday, a touring pitch, a glamping break and buying a holiday home. 60 decisions in all. The park, its group, its rivals and the places are renamed; everything else is exactly as the agents recorded it.
AI picked Park A outright in 9 of 60 shopping runs.
You were found in 43 of 60 runs but lost most of them before the pick. Sister parks in your group won 9 runs, as many as you. You do best with Glamping.
Agent access check
What a legitimate AI shopping agent could and couldn't read during this test. Blocks are recorded, never worked around.
| Your page | Visits | Status |
|---|---|---|
| park-a.example/our-parks/park-a | 17 | Readable |
| park-a.example/our-parks/park-a/holidays | 9 | Readable |
| park-a.example/our-parks/park-a/holidays/glamping-pods-park-a | 8 | Readable |
| park-a.example/our-parks/park-a/ownership | 2 | Readable |
| park-a.example/our-parks/park-a/touring-motorhomes | 1 | Didn't load |
Other sites that turned the agents away (they then relied on other sources): a pitch-booking platform (17), another national operator's site (12), a rival park's site (7), a local pub's site (2), a rival park's site (1), a property portal (1), a review site (1).
51 of 60 decisions lost. The first barrier: discovery (28)
Every decision passes through the same six stages. Each lost decision is counted once, at the first stage where you fell out. Stages are in order, so a lost decision never reaches the stages after it.
| 1 · Discovery Were you considered at all? |
17 never surfaced in the agent's searches or pages; 11 found, but never put on the shortlist (no reason given)
| 28 |
| 2 · Access Could the agent reach your pages? |
4 | |
| 3 · Decisive facts Could it read the price, fees, availability and rules? |
Facts the agents could not verify: price (7), rules (6), availability (5), fees (2)
| 8 |
| 4 · Evidence & trust Could it rely on what it read? |
Not yet measurable. 12 decisions stopped earlier, at access or readability, so the agents never got far enough to judge whether they could rely on your facts. Fix those, re-test, and this stage becomes visible.
| 0 |
| 5 · Buyer fit Do you meet this customer's needs? |
1 | |
| 6 · Final choice Considered, but something else won |
5 lost to a rival the agent could verify; 3 lost to a rival judged a better fit; 2 lost to a sister business in the same group
| 10 |
| Won | 9 |
Based on the agents' recorded searches, the reasons they gave when they cut you, and why they chose the winner. Their reasons are what they reported, not a window into how the model works. Fixing an early barrier often exposes the next one: re-test to see it.
What to fix, in order of the decisions it cost you
A decision can point to more than one fix; each is counted under the barrier it hit first.
Where you dropped out
Every run passes through the same stages. This is how many of the 60 reached each one with you still in it.
How all 60 runs ended
Not every run ends in one winner. We count every outcome.
| Picked you | 9 |
| Picked a competitor | 47 |
| Picked nobody | 4 |
| Stopped without deciding | 0 |
| Didn't finish | 0 |
Who AI chose instead
The 47 runs a competitor won outright.
Named as the place or brand the agent chose; an operator, group or listing site is folded into the place itself.
Each AI behaves differently
| Assistant | Found | Picked | Winner most often |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 17 / 20 | 6 | Rival H |
| Gemini | 16 / 20 | 2 | Rival M |
| Perplexity | 10 / 20 | 1 | Rival L |
Where AI thinks you fit
| Customer brief | Found | Picked |
|---|---|---|
| Holiday homes for sale | 7 / 15 | 2 |
| Glamping | 13 / 15 | 4 |
| Holidays (caravan & lodge hire) | 11 / 15 | 3 |
| Touring & motorhomes | 12 / 15 | 0 |
Holidays (caravan & lodge hire): “We're a family of four looking for a holiday park around the bay or the edge of the national park for the May half-term week in 2027. We'd like a caravan or lodge with nice views, somewhere to eat on site and good walks nearby, and our budget is up to £1,200 for the week. Which park would you recommend?”
Touring & motorhomes: “We have a touring caravan and want a fully serviced pitch around the bay or the river valley for the early May bank holiday weekend in 2027, with hook-up, water and drainage, dogs welcome, and ideally under £45 a night. Which park would you recommend?”
Glamping: “We'd like a two-night glamping break for two around the bay in early November 2026: a heated pod with a proper bed, ideally dog-friendly, near good walks and a pub, for around £150 in total. Where would you recommend?”
Holiday homes for sale: “We're looking to buy a holiday home caravan near the bay or the southern the national park, with a budget of up to [price], on a park that's open all year. We need to know the annual site fees and the rules on use and subletting. Which park would you recommend?”
What the agents looked for and couldn't find
Taken from what the agents actually did: the pages they opened, what they searched for, and what they couldn't confirm. Observed means it happened in the recorded runs. Our read is our interpretation.
These are the decision points we saw in this test. Fixing them makes a win more likely but doesn't guarantee one. Rerun the same test afterwards to see what changed.
What the agents searched for instead
| Agent searched | Times |
|---|---|
| “the bay heated glamping pods dog friendly pub walks prices November 2026” | 2 |
| “the bay the national park holiday parks lodges views restaurant walks 2027” | 2 |
| “the bay the river valley fully serviced touring caravan pitches dogs prices” | 2 |
| “the bay holiday caravan sale 12 month season site fees subletting” | 1 |
| “southern the national park holiday caravan sale open all year site fees subletting” | 1 |
| “holiday homes for sale the seaside town 12 month season annual site fees” | 1 |
| “365 days" "subletting allowed" static caravan the county site fees” | 1 |
| “Rival D holiday home subletting rules” | 1 |