Los Angeles-based hospitality startup Jurny recently made waves by introducing an AI-enhanced property management system (PMS) powered by GPT-4, available for free on its platform. Jurny aims to provide hotel and short-term rental operators with software and services that streamline their operations and offer comprehensive guest services from a single dashboard.
Founder and CEO Luca Zambello emphasized the power of owning the platform and the traffic it generates. Unlike some competitors who focus solely on the PMS as a profit center, Jurny’s approach is broader. Zambello explained, “PMS is within our product, but we don’t want to make money on just the PMS because we want to make money on everything… It’s the ecosystem in which we will be making money.”
Understanding the diverse needs of property managers, Jurny goes beyond the PMS. The startup offers tools for pricing optimization and managing IoT devices, all accessible under a single umbrella.
Jurny’s journey began in 2017, and it has consistently enabled hotel and rental operators to automate pricing, cleaning services, and system monitoring through their dashboard. With the introduction of AI-enhanced PMS tools, customers can now enjoy the capabilities of Nia, Jurny’s AI assistant, when they log into their dashboard.
Nia serves to enhance guest communication between hosts and guests through three modes. Hosts can create messages for Nia to send to guests, or they can opt for Nia’s assistance in generating messages that hosts can modify before sending. The fully autonomous mode allows Nia to respond to guests immediately, with no human intervention.
For property managers who choose the fully autonomous mode, two response options are available: “Ready When You Are,” where Nia promptly replies to guests within seconds, and “Brief Pause,” in which Nia waits 5 minutes before responding. The second option fosters a more conversational rhythm between guests and hosts.
Jurny offers additional options for hosts who want more than the free features. They can purchase the Plus bundle for $29 or the Pro bundle for $69. The Plus bundle includes Nia AI, PMS, Airbnb Connect, channel management, guest mobile app, website booking engine, and an IoT hub. The Pro bundle, in addition to the Plus features, offers a review tracker, pricing wheelhouse, guest screening, and cleaning management.
Zambello highlighted that while many have announced plans to integrate AI into their platforms, Jurny has been actively using AI since October of the previous year. The decision to hold off on the announcement was driven by their commitment to ensuring the technology’s readiness and functionality before making it public. Zambello confirmed that the platform has since improved significantly.
Jurny currently boasts over 2,000 hotels and rentals on its platform, and Zambello expects this number to grow with the release of the free AI PMS tools. He expressed excitement about making technology more accessible to smaller, less tech-savvy hosts, thereby reducing barriers to entry and fees.
