Over the past quarter-century, the internet has changed how accommodation is discovered, distributed, and booked. Covid disrupted demand, accelerated digital adoption and exposed weaknesses in businesses that had confused rapid expansion with durable success. AI now introduces another change: software that can interpret information, recommend decisions and increasingly act on them.

Meta launched Muse on 8 September, and investors immediately began asking a question the travel industry has been avoiding: if a personal AI agent can research, compare and book a trip for me, what happens to the companies that currently sit between the guest and the accommodation?

Airbnb’s next challenge is to make a highly varied marketplace feel dependable without losing the character that made people use it in the first place. Changing guest expectations make that harder than it was when Airbnb began.

The blunt conclusion is this: There is remarkably little that is genuinely new in short-term rentals. Is there anything genuinely new in short-term or vacation rentals?

The STR Intelligence Briefing provides a key view on current trends and data, extracted from multiple sources and summarised (human-led!). But lets start with this months big viral news: Airbnb just offered a 6% commission! Yes 6%!

Without replicating too much of what is found on the site under CEOSure.com, this is purely an annoucement of a “soft” launch...