Stay scout

Stay scout

This skill recommends where to stay for a given night, filtered through who's actually sleeping there.

Step 1: Read state first

Read profiles/travelers.md before recommending anything — pull mobility limits (no walk-up-only if someone can't do stairs), kids (crib/rollaway needs, pool as a plus), and budget comfort. If it's missing or status: template, invoke the traveler-profiles skill first — don't guess at constraints or ask ad hoc questions this file is meant to answer.

If there's an active trip (trips/<trip>/trip.md), read it too:

• The Stays entry for the night in question — the city, the date, and any stated target (e.g. "walkable to downtown, < $160"). A bare **unbooked** with no target means no explicit preference was stated yet; ask if it matters, or proceed on travelers.md alone.
• The Route section, for that day's arrival time or drive length — a late arrival from a long drive day makes check-in windows and 24-hour desks worth checking.
• The Budget section's lodging cap, if one exists — this is a ranking input (Step 2), not something this skill rewrites; a separate pass owns writing the Budget section.

If there's no trip file, that's fine — answer in-conversation without inventing a trip folder (see Step 6).

Step 2: Filter, then rank

This is a strict two-pass process — never blend the passes:

1. Hard filter. Drop any option that:
   • Violates a mobility limit (e.g. walk-up-only with no elevator, when someone can't do stairs).
   • Doesn't fit the party size (not enough beds/rooms for the group).
   • Exceeds a budget cap the user stated as hard (not just the Budget section's soft target — ask if it's unclear which this is).
   • Isn't actually available on the stated date — don't surface a great option that's sold out or closed that night.
2. Soft rank. Among what survives, rank by:
   • Price against the Budget section's lodging cap, if one exists.
   • The Stays entry's stated target (walkability, downtown proximity, etc.).
   • Traveler soft preferences from travelers.md (quiet, kitchen/kitchenette, breakfast included).
   • Parking — call this out per option on a driving trip; a "great downtown boutique hotel" with no parking and a $45/night garage two blocks away is a real tradeoff on a road trip, not a footnote.

Every recommendation should name which target or preference it satisfies, not just that it's "good" — e.g. "two blocks from the target downtown radius, free self-park" or "quietest of the three, but a 10-minute drive out."

Step 3: Presentation format

Every recommendation, in every context (chat, trip file, standalone), follows this shape:

**<Name>** $<price>/night — ⭐ 4.3 (Google reviews)
[View on Google Maps](<maps link>) · [Website](<url>, if found)
Why it fits: <soft preference or target it satisfies>
Parking: <free self-park / paid garage $<amount> / street only, etc.>

• Price: actual $<price>/night for the stated date, not a price tier — lodging prices swing too much by date for $–$$$$ to be useful the way it is for food.
• Rating: star count and review source right after the price (e.g. "⭐ 4.3 (Google reviews, 900+)"). If you can't confirm a real rating, say "rating unavailable" rather than inventing one.
• Hyperlink — every pick, no exceptions. A Google Maps place link built from the name and city/address, no API key needed: https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=<url-encoded "Name, City, State">. If you found the property's actual booking site or website during research, add it too (· [Website](<url>)); if not, the Maps link alone is enough — never fabricate a website URL.
• Check-in window: if the day's drive means a late arrival is likely, note the check-in cutoff or whether it's a 24-hour desk. A great pick with a 10pm front-desk cutoff is a real problem if the drive runs long.

Step 4: Respect the privacy rule

When searching the web, use generic terms — location, dates, and the feature that matters ("hotels near downtown Des Moines free parking," "pet-friendly motels North Platte NE") — never a traveler's name or medical/mobility detail. Search "hotels with ground-floor rooms North Platte," not "hotels for Alex who can't do stairs." This is a hard workspace rule (see CLAUDE.md Boundaries), not a style preference.

Step 5: Write back, same turn

With an active trip file — update the trip's Stays entry for that night:

## Stays

- Aug 14, Des Moines: **researched** — Chosen: <name>, $<price>/night — ⭐ 4.3 (Google reviews) — 2 blocks from downtown, free self-park
  - [View on Google Maps](<maps link>) · [Website](<url>, if found)
  - Rejected: <name> — no parking on-site, $45/night garage two blocks over

• Status is researched, never booked — this skill researches candidates; only the user books, and only when they say so ("I booked it," "confirmed the reservation"). If the user reports back that they've actually booked, update the status to **booked** and, if it changed, the final price. Never write booked on your own inference that a pick "sounds good."
• If the user hasn't picked yet, list 2-3 candidates under the entry instead of "Chosen," each still carrying price, rating, and the fit note — same as food-scout's un-decided state.
• Record rejected candidates with the reason so they aren't re-surfaced next session — same anti-re-proposal convention as route-planner and food-scout.
• Budget section — update the lodging line with the actual chosen price against the cap, if a Budget section exists:

## Budget

- Lodging cap: $<cap> (<n> nights) — actual: $<sum of chosen prices so far> (<remaining unresearched nights, if any>)

This skill only owns the lodging line — route-planner owns the fuel line, food/day is a user-entered number no skill touches. If there's no Budget section yet, don't create one; that's the user's or route-planner's call.

Open items — update the matching line, but don't tick it just because research is done:

- [ ] Book stay: Des Moines, night of Aug 14 — researched: <name>, $<price>/night, book directly

Only change it to a ticked - [x] Book stay: <city>, night of <date> — booked: <name> when the user confirms the booking is actually made. Research and booking are different states — itinerary-builder's blocker check looks for the Stays entry's unbooked word, not this checkbox, so moving the entry to researched in Step 5's first block is what actually unblocks scheduling; the checkbox is just an honest to-do marker for the user.

Log — append a dated entry: <date> — <city> stay researched, chose <name> (session N).

Without an active trip file (standalone "where should we stay in Des Moines" ask) — answer directly in conversation. Don't create a trip folder or trip.md just to hold a one-off recommendation; only write to a trip file if one already exists for this context.

Step 6: Hand off

Name what's left: other nights still marked unbooked ("North Platte's still open — want me to scout that one too?"), or, if this was the last unresolved stay, that itinerary-builder's stays blocker is now clear ("Both nights are researched — itinerary-builder can go once food's settled too").

How this differs from a generic hotel search

The value here is the two-pass filter/rank plus the road-trip-specific details a plain search skips — parking availability, late-check-in windows tied to that day's actual drive length, and mobility fit. If travelers.md doesn't have enough detail to judge a hard constraint confidently (e.g. how severe a mobility limit is), say so and ask the one clarifying question that matters rather than guessing.