Agentic AI Will Disrupt Airbnb & OTAs in 2026 | Shahar Goldboim (BOOM) on the Future of STR

(0:00) So definitely be open to it. Don't like do that because AI is here and it's (0:06) going to change our life if we want it or not. For me, AI is going to make us (0:12) super humans and going to replace people. No doubt about it. But the thing (0:18) is a player always will have a place. What is a Gentic AI and how is it going (0:25) to change the short-term rentals industry? Will the big OTAAS be taken (0:31) over by lots of smaller booking platforms? Will AI help you to create a direct booking website in seconds? And (0:38) what can hosts and property managers do now in order to prepare for this revolution? Shahar Gold from Boom is the (0:46) special guest on the House Planet podcast and he'll be answering all these questions and more on today's show. (0:57) Shaha, thank you for joining us on the host planet podcast. Now, to prepare for our chat, I asked chat GPT to come up (1:04) with some agentic AI predictions for the STR space over the next year. But first (1:10) things first, explain to us what is agentic AI? What is agentic AI? (1:15) We'll do James, first of all, always pleasure to be with you. Always enjoying the conversation. (1:21) As for what agentic AI, I like to to to look at stuff in really easy way. So (1:28) agentic AI is like imagine that you're talking to your employee and you can ask him for any information that you want (1:34) about what's going on in the business. You can ask him for any suggestions that you want to what you need to do and you (1:40) can ask him to do any actions that you want. So that's kind of like what a gentic AI is. (1:47) So your own personal agent. Now, we're going to run through these predictions and apply them to the short-term rentals (1:55) industry. So, the number one prediction is that AI will become the primary (2:01) discovery layer for travel. What do you make of this? So, imagine it like that. Like in the AI will become the primary discovery function for travel (2:09) end, it's who you put your trust in, right? So, now as a traveler, what do I (2:14) do? I trust Airbnb. Why do I trust Airbnb or booking.com? I know when I (2:19) will open the app, I will be able to get inventory almost anywhere around the (2:25) world. So if I'm going to Chicago or if I'm going to New York or if I'm going to London, I can go into an Airbnb and (2:31) basically see it over there. That's one of the reason why I will do it. The second reason, if something happened, I (2:38) have like kind of like somebody in between that will be able to help me in this kind of case. So, so, so it's where (2:46) my trust basically stay. Now, if I have like an agent that I can talk with and (2:52) he can already screen for me everything and I don't need to do the negotiation (2:58) and know where I want to go. So, I trust him. So, once I trust the agent, I kind (3:04) of skipping the broker uh which is Airbnb or Booking.com. (3:10) Now as to where the inventory will sit, what kind of like understanding the AI (3:16) will get like from like a certain territory and matter of review that's something that evol will evolve but (3:24) definitely we're going to see it. Uh also I feel that the search itself right (3:30) now we are searching in matter of I want to go to Miami uh in between like for (3:36) Christmas because I want somewhere hot. So, I will put I want to come from December 22nd to January 1st. I want to (3:43) go to Miami and I want like something that will be less than $5,000 for the (3:49) accommodation. So, I will put in the price. I will put how much I want to put per night and then it will show me all (3:56) of the availability. I feel that the the agent is the one thing that we talked (4:02) before, but on on the search aspect, it will be much more of an open text, right? So, I will write I want to get to (4:10) somewhere hot in Christmas time in between the 22nd to the 1st. (4:17) I want it to be less than two hours flight away from where I'm at. H I want (4:22) it to be I want to have a view to the ocean and I coming with my two (4:27) daughters. So, I would like to have a lot of activities for kids around the hotel, preferably (4:34) walking distance. And we're actually going to bring the dog as well. So we need like dog friendly place and in in (4:42) reality it will be much more of an open text much less structured and it will (4:47) give me the best option for me uh in a certain place. (4:52) Yeah. So very basically here rather than you're not going to go to Booking.com or Airbnb or any other travel website, (5:00) you're going to go and ask uh you know a a large language model or an AI tool. (5:06) This is exactly what I want and trust the AI tool to to give you the the best (5:12) options. Okay. Then also when you're looking also more to the future when you're thinking about (5:19) it, the AI will know a lot about you. So he will already present you something (5:24) that you like based upon everything that he knows about you. So cut off the (5:30) option of you need to look. It's Yeah. And the whole point there is that you know with the agentic AI is that in (5:38) future you're going to get to the point where you trust your agent so much that it's going to book for you and it's (5:45) going to have got the best rate, the best location. It's it might even have booked direct to get you the the best (5:51) possible price and experience and all that kind of thing. Yeah. 100%. Think about it like you're talking with your wife, right? So you're (5:56) like, okay, we want to go to vacation. Then she's bringing a lot like she will bring like three options. Hey, we have (6:03) this, we have that, or we have that. What what do you feel like? So it will be kind of like a conversational, right? (6:11) like but already with understanding already with presenting options and and (6:17) you pick it's easy. Okay, real talk now for all you hosts out there. You know that moment when (6:22) your guest messages you again with, "Hey, what's the Wi-Fi code?" Or you're (6:27) staring at five different calendars wondering if you've accidentally double booked the cottage. Yes, we've all been (6:34) there. That's why here at Host Planet, we recommend Housefully. It's basically your rentals control center. It handles (6:42) bookings across all the big platforms, syncs your calendars to ensure there are no double bookings, automates guest (6:48) messages, and even creates these really slick digital guide books that stop all the repeat questions. Honestly, it just (6:56) makes your life easier and keeps your guests happier, helping you achieve those allimportant five-star reviews. (7:03) And here is a little bonus. If you're a House Planet listener, you can get $500 off on boarding for House Philly's (7:10) property management software and 30% off digital guide books for life. Just hit (7:16) the link in the show notes and use the codes planet 500 for the PMS and (7:21) HostPlanet GB for the guide books. And if you'd like a proper walkthrough, (7:26) there's also a link to book a demo with Frank Bosy from Hostfilly. He will show you how it all works. Less stress, more (7:34) bookings, sorted with Housefully. Who do you trust more to pick the best vacation (7:40) spot, your wife or the Agentic AI? Depends. I'm answering my wife or I'm (7:45) answering you. Um, okay. So, prediction number two, (7:52) dozens of new AIdriven booking channels will emerge. What do you think? Dozens of new AI-driven booking channels will emerge (7:59) Yeah, AI is going to in the end it's it's a change of infrastructure, right? (8:04) Like it's a change in everything that we know. Think about AI (8:10) like water, like electricity, like internet. It's an infrastructure and AI (8:15) becoming the infrastructure of intelligence. And to that infrastructure of intelligence, we will connect all (8:22) kind of devices, right? like when you have electricity, you have TV but you (8:28) have AC, one is like watching and one is like cold air. So a lot of new uh (8:35) product will be developed. H and obviously the one that will stay behind (8:40) will stay behind. So obviously this technology will allow us think about like for example Blockbuster and (8:47) Netflix, right? What happened over there? You had like you had like a lot of stores selling DVDs with Blockbuster. (8:53) They were all all over United States and then uh Netflix came and with a (9:00) infrastructure change of internet it become streaming. So why would I go to a (9:06) store to get the DVD, get it to my home? It's a timeconsuming. I have to pick (9:12) now. I can just press. So a lot of development will happen (9:18) everywhere. This point here is saying dozens of new AIdriven booking channels. And one thing (9:26) it's suggesting here is that for hosts, this means bookings may come from many (9:32) smaller channels rather than Airbnb, Booking.com, VBO, and maybe direct. Is (9:38) this something you see happening quite quickly? You think we're going to see lots of AI generated booking channels? (9:47) It's more like an agent rather than the channels. So it's like a direct like so (9:53) people will go to chip and ask him where should I go and then they will get an answer or now with like Google as the (10:00) way they are coming. So the the ability to to find a product will be more (10:06) dependent on what the value that it's bring to the end consumer (10:12) rather than you marketing budget. So when you look at independence compared to really high brand it will make them (10:21) more equal right because it depends on the values that they give rather the (10:26) sounds that they make. So, if that makes sense, (10:31) that leads us nicely to prediction number three, which is the playing field will level for independent hosts because (10:39) Agentic AI does not care about your brand size, your marketing budget, your OTAA ranking, who pays for ads. It cares (10:47) about fit, availability, accuracy, and guest intent. And it's suggesting this (10:53) might be the biggest shift in decades. What do you make of this prediction? The playing field will level for independent hosts (10:59) I think it's a 100% truth because in the end of the day it's measure of value and (11:04) it will be able to measure the value in in a lot of ways that it's really hard for us. You will go to Urban Bay, you (11:11) will go to Homeway, you won't go to like a 100 different site, you won't go into the site of the of the company, you (11:19) won't like read all of the review, understand how the review applying to you compared to your travel. So the (11:26) ability to to understand the value for specific (11:32) will be huge. And again it's not just like in traveling even in education your (11:37) kids the way they study right now they study with all of the group with all of (11:42) like their class right but the way learning is going to be is it will be (11:48) based upon the person and and from that understanding what's the level of (11:53) education that you need in in which like department and and and and and that (11:59) aspect will go everywhere not just to travel. Your short-term rental business is (12:05) evolving fast. But how do you keep up with the latest regulation, tax changes, (12:10) and industry trends? 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Tickets are (13:14) just £40 each and available now from our website. Head to houseplanner.com (13:20) for further details. I'm sure there'll be hosts and property managers out there thinking, "How can I make sure that when (13:27) somebody makes a prompt on chat GBT or or Gemini or anywhere else, how can I (13:33) make sure that it's my brand? It's my properties that are getting visibility and and I imagine you're thinking about (13:39) this from from your company's point of view as well. You want somebody when they go in, which PMS should I use?" You (13:45) want you want to be recommended, right? So how can businesses make sure they are getting recommended by these large (13:51) language models? So it's it's how you understand value, right? You understand value from the How can businesses get cited by AI large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini? (13:59) data. So the data needs to be structured. So the AI will be able to to read it and understand and understand (14:06) what you give. It's your ability uh to put into the text what people actually (14:13) enjoy and love. So he will be able to capture it and understanding it's (14:18) specific to a person. In regards to to the PMS it's like a lot is is on (14:27) review sites that that are in that you want to be high over there in matter of (14:33) of scores. It's all about validation and value right like it's like how much I (14:40) trust and what the value that it's bring me. And once these two are combined, (14:45) it's give me the ability to decide, hey, you know what, that's the place. Uh, (14:50) yeah, makes sense. Um, how is this going to (14:55) affect OTAAS? Because prediction four is that OTAA influence will decline but not (15:03) disappear. Where do you see the future for Airbnb, Booking.com, VBO, and others (15:09) in a world of agentic AI? No, it's it's really it's really hard to OTA influence will decline but not disappear (15:16) know to be honest. Uh and I'm not 100% sure. I I'm I I do sure (15:25) that trust is a big thing and for them it will be a challenge how they build (15:31) the trust in a way and how the AI aentic AI not passing them as as a broker but (15:39) also they getting a lot of the information from the OTAA and also I see (15:46) another thing that coming up which is paid within the uh the LLM. So (15:54) it will be a mix of like when you think about SEO so you have the organic and you have the paid and it might be also a (16:02) combination with the AI that will play into that. uh so it's I think that we (16:08) again the movements that we see is unpred presidential meaning it's it's (16:13) it's the biggest change that humanity have ever seen right when we look at like industrial revolution industrial (16:20) revolution happened like people were like basically farmers they were thinking like how we actually uh produce (16:27) food and then after industrial revolution took around 150 years for people to change position right so we (16:34) were farmers we move into uh uh factories. The factories created accounting, legal and basically like we (16:42) build basically all of the profession that we know today and with AI (16:48) everything that all of the fundamentals that we know are going to be changed but not in a period of time of 150 years in (16:55) a period of time of 10 years. So it's it's it's um it's hard to predict uh (17:01) everything but we see where we are going. That's that's for sure. How do you think um advertising is going (17:08) to change the landscape you know when large language models start accepting (17:14) fees for getting more visibility. Advertising also going to be like a total different animal right? All of the How advertising is going to change AI platforms (17:22) AB testing, all of the changes, your ability to do multiplies trial when AI (17:27) is basically pushing emails doing AB testing like get like the understanding (17:33) what what works, what's not working again every field is going to to change (17:41) bottom to top and we need we need to to to to understand how to to use the (17:46) tools, how to be better and in the end of the day give us the power to be (17:53) like super superheroes like for real even think about yourself for the (17:59) preparation uh to this podcast right you went and you asked JPT hey you know what (18:04) I'm going to do a podcast and such and such shoot me like all of the all of the question and something that used to take (18:11) you probably two to three hours now you change into like a five minutes process like you (18:18) review you optimize duck tuck duck I have it and that in every action that (18:23) you do. Yeah, 100%. Um, these next two predictions then I I think we're (18:29) probably already seeing this. You know, STR operations are going to shift from automation to autonomy. Um, and AI will (18:38) become the new revenue manager. I it feels like that's already happening in (18:43) in real time. What What do you make of that? Yeah, we are at boom. we we are working Automation and revenue management (18:50) on this change for the last two and a half years. It's something that we we we (18:55) saw uh really clearly uh and I like to call it automation of automation (19:03) uh uh and and 100% in all level in level of communication. (19:10) Now we already eliminate 80% of the communication of our like customers like (19:15) meaning now they need to deal with 20% they can focus much more on on the (19:21) problem uh rather on the TV like in matter of sales you can be available (19:27) 24/7 in matter of dispatching like now you know the KPI of each person you know (19:34) the cleaner that cleaning the fastest how much I like what's the score that he's getting who better to send where (19:42) based upon a GPS location um in matter of like accounting (19:49) reconciliation to do against the bank pretty easy to AI. So for me it will (19:58) it will go in in every uh level. Now also with aentic AI that sit on the top (20:05) like for example I used to go I used to have a property management company pretty big one and we I used to go to (20:13) the utilities after it I transfer it to somebody and I would like to see hey you know what if you the water bill went (20:20) more than 10% a month I might have a leak I should take a look at it and it's something that and now you're just (20:26) telling the aentic AI hey you know what if the if the if the price going more (20:31) than 10% the utility bill of the water. Please send me notification. Let's do it (20:37) every the 15th of the month. And from now on, every 15th of the month, you will do it. If you want an extra step, (20:43) you know what? Already send like a like a handyman to check it. And and let's (20:48) let's see if we can fix it or what the problem is. And and again, you can do it (20:53) with everything. So everything change into a playbook with triggers to when it (20:59) needs to be done. Yeah, automating automations. I like that. Uh I like that explanation. Um number seven prediction (21:07) then and I think this is very relevant to you. So the the STR tech stack will (21:12) compress. Instead of 10 tools or whatever it might be, hosts may rely on (21:17) a much smaller amount of technology. What do you reckon? Erh first of all 100% also something The STR tech stack will compress (21:25) that we saw for the last two years and we are like we are pushing on it because (21:31) the way technology used to be built when you're thinking about it think about that think about the model so the model (21:38) was supposed to fix a solution to somebody in your company so let's say (21:44) you own a company you're bookkeeper working on Quickbooks you're handyman working on Monday you're a marketing (21:51) person working on HubSpot and the way it used to work that the people on top of that tools were talking in between them (21:58) to run the company meaning your bookkeeper now doesn't have an invoice what he will tell the handyman hey send (22:04) me the invoice right h if it's through email through text or whatever it is we (22:10) really believe that the world moving into a world of bus which is business as a software where all of the tool (22:16) combines so everything talking with everything All right. So, think about (22:21) that. Let's say I have a PMS and the PMS have a plug-in of AI. And now your (22:28) guest, you come again and you ask me, can I do an early checkin? A simple question, right? But how can as an AI (22:35) can give you the answer if he doesn't know the task? meaning if I need to fix the toilet or I need to fix the shower (22:42) or the cleaning was done or there was a late reservation my ability to give you the information based upon the data that (22:50) I have in order to give it to you. So in matter of tools when I have an API (22:57) connection I have some data but I don't know to answer like you. So for example (23:04) me and you have some API integration meaning I know where you living. I know (23:10) a little bit about your history. I know where you worked. I know how you got into the space. But if somebody will ask (23:17) me a question like he's asking you, no way I will be able to answer like you because I don't know your childhood. I (23:24) don't know your parents. I don't know like how you translate certain stuff that happened to you. So in order to (23:32) really answer like a business, I need to have the whole and if the whole combined (23:37) to a lot of places, I won't be able to. So I'm definitely uh yeah on that. (23:44) Yeah. data access. Yeah, all these things are gonna gonna become even more also execution. So execution is also a (23:51) big thing, right? Because now I want to open a task. Now I I want that task to to move into payment to this contractor. (23:59) Now I want to do reconciliation in the bank against that payment. Right? Now it's need to go to the P&L of the owner. (24:06) Now it's not need to go into the trust accounting of the company to create the flow. So, so everything that you do need (24:14) to have a complete cycle to all of the action uh in order to the system to work (24:20) right 100%. Um direct booking websites then so it says direct booking websites will (24:26) become AI first. Um, we've seen actually friend of both of us, Richard Vorton, (24:32) did a quite a long piece recently about the fact that he thinks that AI is going to make it so simple and a lot cheaper (24:39) to create high quality direct booking websites. Um, is this something that you (24:45) see and and how much of a boost is this going to be for independents out there? Direct booking websites will become AI-first (24:51) There's a thousand% like on that. So your ability is to talk with the (24:56) software rather than use the software. So you will be able to talk with it and explain him what you want and how to do (25:03) and why to do what we talked about LLM going to find directly uh uh the the the (25:14) direct booking site because it will be cheaper. So if you have enough validation on your booking site that the (25:21) guest will get like same experience or better experience than Airbnb and the AI (25:26) will trust that then it will present your property rather than the Airbnb (25:32) property because it has a level of trust also in the level of what it's (25:37) presenting to a certain guest that coming to the website how you adjust the website based upon the user that coming (25:44) to your website so that it will be changed ing as you go. So you will see (25:49) something different than me because we look at stuff differently in matter of like how to close it. So so in all kind (25:57) of level it will play. Wow. A completely dynamic website which will change depending on on what that (26:04) person wants. That's that's uh um amazing. Um the you mentioned there (26:10) trust and that brings us quite nicely to the next point which is trust will shift (26:16) from platforms to AI interpreters. Guests won't trust Airbnb reviews (26:21) anymore. You could argue that guests don't trust a lot of Airbnb reviews right now, but they will trust their (26:27) personal AI to tell them what's reliable, what's safe, what's good value. So potentially trust becomes (26:35) personal and decentralized from platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com (26:40) where where it currently is. What do you make of that? I'm trying to think about it because Trust will shift from platforms to AI interpreters (26:47) like with Airbnb the the reviews are pretty meaning like it's pretty good the (26:53) way they are analyzing review who they allow to leave review. uh my assumptions (27:00) that the AI will read and will build the trust on the review itself and and know (27:06) to do the analysis in the best way in order to present you the best reviews (27:12) that relevant to you. Uh if it makes sense in the end everything in life is (27:18) trust, right? You're doing business with people that you trust or (27:24) it's all about trust in any relation in any business. It's (27:30) what might trust in you. Yes. In a world of AI, how does that (27:37) fit? If we're trusting agentic AI and this human element is taken out of it to (27:43) a to a large degree, how does that fit in what what kind of contemp (27:51) I mean I'm trying to think here as well. I mean, I guess I'm trying to run it back to short-term rentals, but I guess (27:58) if if we just completely trust the AI, then we're not so worried about looking (28:03) at a direct booking website and finding the about page and seeing who we're who we're booking with. So, yeah, everything (28:10) boils down to trust and ideally those personal relationships, but maybe those personal relationships that they're not (28:16) going to be as visible as they as they previously were, right? It's build up to a trust. So (28:21) let's say the Aentic AI picked like three places and let's say you pick the place and let's say you're going and (28:26) you're not enjoying and then you're going again and you're not enjoying and then you're going again you're not enjoying he lost the trust. So it's all (28:33) about like uh create the value that you will build the (28:38) trust rather than like uh not uh and I believe that we'll be we will (28:45) live in a world that the trust just will get more and more uh conquered. Yeah. (28:51) So finally then uh hosts who prepare now will win big. So to the host and (28:58) property managers out there who know that Agentic AI is coming in a big way, (29:04) how can they prepare to future proof their businesses? Understanding how to implement AI in Hosts who prepare now will win big (29:11) their organization, understand look at every department and see how they can (29:16) optimize it, how they can install the AI mentality within their (29:22) organization. uh uh small thing that they can do they can tell their people (29:29) don't ask nobody question before you ask in cha GPT to see if you can answer that (29:34) just a small thing right uh and already you're losing 60 70% of the questions (29:41) that people have just from doing it uh and then like understanding how to do (29:46) automation of automation search for tools that will make them better and (29:51) open your mind to it meaning when your when your mind is open when you're looking for stuff are coming but it's (29:57) it's starting from the openness so definitely be open to it don't like do (30:03) that because AI is here and it's going to change our life if we want it or not (30:10) and for me AI is going to make us super humans and going to replace people no (30:19) doubt about it uh but the thing is a player player always will have a place (30:26) and you can have organization full of A player rather than the B and the C and (30:31) you can create much more scalability uh with your business. Uh so yeah and and (30:39) also giving your people much more work life balance right like being a property (30:44) manager is hard working 24/7 365 days a year it's non-stop and the ability to to (30:53) do more with less is huge and it's not that AI is going to replace people (30:59) companies not using AI going to be replaced by ones that do so definitely (31:04) uh put efforts and implement it within your company. (31:09) Big change is coming people. Um okay then Shahar uh before we head off then give us the lowdown on Boom. What are (31:16) you guys up to at the moment and where can people find out more information? (31:22) Uh so Boom at the B at the moment released BAM and BAM is a business BOOM releases BAM (31:28) agentic AI of Boom uh which allowing you think about it this way. So from a (31:35) software perspective you have end to end solution to run all of your business (31:40) under one system to that we have AI agents that will answer customer support (31:46) sales accounting and so on and so on and on top of that we have BM which is (31:51) aentic AI that you can ask any question to any data that you want so it doesn't (31:57) have to be a structured data I can even ask him what are the best metrices in my (32:02) company and it will go to the review, understand the people that basically enjoying it. So you can ask any (32:08) information that you want, you can ask any suggestions that you want, meaning how can I increase sales, where is my (32:16) leakage and so on and so on and you can do any actions that you want like in the (32:23) system in any trigger point that you want. So it's it's a really a game changer in the way you manage company. (32:31) Fascinating. And if people want to find out more, where should they go? boomnow.com and to my LinkedIn profile, (32:38) Shahar Goldboom. Check it out, people. We'll put those links and details in the show notes. (32:43) Shahar, it's been a real pleasure and a a really fascinating conversation. Thanks for joining us on the HostPlanet (32:50) podcast. Thank you. Thank you, James. Always a pleasure. Great to chat to Shahar Gold there from (32:56) Boom. I hope you found that conversation as fascinating as I did. That's just about it for today's episode. Remember, (33:02) this podcast is brought to you in collaboration with Housefilly, which is trusted by short-term rental (33:07) professionals across the globe. As a HousePlanet listener, you get two exclusive offers. $500 off onboarding (33:14) for Housefully's property management software. Just use the code planet 500 and 30% off digital guide books for (33:21) life. Use the code houseplanet GB. To grab these deals, click the link in the show notes or head to housefilly.com. (33:29) For more free education, tips and trends from the STR industry, visit houseplanet.comclub where you can sign (33:35) up for our newsletter, listen to our podcasts, and download a suite of ebooks for hosts and property managers. That's (33:42) it for today's episode. Until next time, happy hosting