TravelAI introduced Friday it was launching a brand new metasearch website concentrating on luxurious vacationers concerned about villas, short-term leases and vacation houses, primarily within the Mediterranean and Caribbean.
Whereas the positioning is new, the area identify will likely be acquainted to these within the short-term rental sector: Casai, which was a Latin American short-term rental startup that ceased operations final July, regardless of having raised greater than $50 million since its founding in 2019.
TravelAI mentioned it accomplished the acquisition, rebranding and launch of the brand new Casai.com inside “a number of days,” however it’s not disclosing the monetary phrases.
“Our philosophy is to function at pace and scale, and we have been capable of launch this model in days utilizing [artificial intelligence] expertise and our multi-site content material platform,” mentioned TravelAI CEO John Lyotier mentioned. “Now that it’s launched, we anticipate much more tweaks to the model and website utilizing the info we collect to service the wants of vacationers, rising the personalization and relevance one customer at a time.”
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The acquisition was for simply the area identify.
“The area represents luxurious and is related to our goal audiences, however it is usually a mix of the phrases ‘Casa’ and ‘AI,’ which completely encapsulates what we do,” Lyotier mentioned. “We imagine that AI will likely be used to encourage vacationers, reply traveler queries and make the complete market extra environment friendly.”
TravelAI makes use of AI to attach vacationers with properties that match their wants, preferences, and behaviors. It does this by dividing vacationers into what it calls “micro-segments,” from luxurious to finances pleasant. Examples of TravelAI’s greater than 350 client web sites embody Lease by Proprietor, Hotala, Trip Cottages, Cabinns, and now Casai.
These area of interest websites suggest properties listed on on-line journey company companions like Reserving.com and Expedia Group’s Vrbo, which function the service provider of report for all bookings.
The deal is an instance of TravelAI’s technique to ship high-value vacationers to its OTA clients, mentioned Chris Jensen, chief working officer of TravelAI.
“This model will likely be worthwhile from day one attributable to our economies of scale, use of AI-supported expertise and skill to monetize visitors successfully,” Jensen mentioned. “It’s a painful truth within the journey market that many companies fail. The earlier homeowners invested closely in model growth but have been unable to attain profitability earlier than abandoning their efforts. We’re coming into a brand new world for travel-related firms, and we anticipate important adjustments in how vacationers are supported alongside their journey.”
