In a sea of AI travel-planning apps, a new startup called boop It aims to redefine space with a new approach: turning social recommendations into bookable itineraries. Instead of receiving a random AI-generated itinerary, the app gives users access to itineraries from real people who went on real trips.
When someone travels, Boop uses AI to quickly turn their trip into an itinerary that others can copy and personalize, primarily by looking at location data and metadata from photos shared with the app. The idea is to create a network of shared itineraries that people can make money from, giving travel creators another way to make money from their recommendations.
The startup was founded in February by Nancy Lee Smith, who previously led AR/VR innovation at Meta and Microsoft and served as executive vice president of growth and strategy at physical AI startup BrightAI.
Smith came up with the idea after realizing there was no way for Boop to efficiently remember or share its travel recommendations.
She also wanted to address the stress and emotional labor that often comes with planning a trip, especially for women. Make about 80% of travel decisions yourself And often feel pressure to make every trip perfect.
“Women are the ones making the plans most of the time in relationships, families, and friend groups,” Smith said during an interview with TechCrunch. “There’s pressure to make every trip amazing, not just for yourself or your partner, for your family, for your friends. All these years of emotional and logistical labor happened for free. Boop is now solving this so we can make it easier for people to do anything.”
Instead of scouring TikTok for recommendations, sifting through hundreds of reviews, and pinning ideas to Google Maps, users can access tried-and-true itineraries from creators and friends.
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“Boop is the first AI travel companion built on social trust,” Smith said. “What this means is, the moment you start going on a trip and start moving around, Boop basically remembers your trip in the background, so all your stops, your photos, your reservations, and in the background it turns into a beautiful, shoppable itinerary that friends can now actually use.”
He added, “And so how it works is, instead of planning from scratch — which is like a weeklong process — now you can just copy your friends’ actual Tokyo or Paris itinerary. And in one tap, you can chat with the AI and make it your own by personalizing it in minutes.”
When users begin to “capture” a trip, the app tracks their activities in the background, much like a fitness app tracks steps or walking routes, if the user has given the app permission to do so. The company says Boop’s AI doesn’t use location data for anything other than capturing trips and offering recommendations. For example, if a user is interested in art and is located in the 11th Arrondissement of Paris, Boop can direct them to the Atelier des Lumières.
In the future, Boop plans to integrate with users’ calendars, with their permission, to access existing reservations and add them to their itineraries.
Smith says Boop is helpful even when you’re on the road, not just when planning a trip. For example, if you’re comfortable standing in the middle of Tokyo at 11 p.m., Boop can recommend something for you to do based on your tastes and your friends’ recommendations.
Boop is launching on mobile on Tuesday and is currently available by invitation only. The company currently has a public waiting list With which users can connect.
Smith says Boop is offering early access to select travel creators whose trips people already want to copy. The startup has seen interest from creators who already share their journey and are looking for a way to monetize their recommendations. Creators can share their travels with followers through a “Boop with Me” link that includes affiliate links.
“When people copy the link and book, we automatically integrate the industry affiliate commission API, and we generate an industry standard of 10 to 25% commission, and we return half of that back to the creators,” Smith said. “With each copy, that means Rs 50 to Rs 100. And if you’re an influencer with 100,000 followers, and you have 100 people copying it, it becomes a five- (or) six-figure income in the future.”
Boop Hotels & Experiences is working with affiliate aggregation companies and using APIs to access affiliate booking inventory from platforms like Expedia, Booking.com, Marriott and Viator.
Smith says Boop is fortunate to have the support of leaders from TripAdvisor, Marriott and Expedia, noting that they understand travel and consumer behavior. Notable investors include TripAdvisor co-founder and former CEO Stephen Cofer and former Marriott International chairwoman Stephanie Linnartz.
In terms of funding, Boop raised $3.2 million in pre-seed funding in May, co-led by Bling Capital and BBG Ventures.
As far as the future is concerned, Boop wants to become the go-to place for booking travel, especially as research shows Gen Z is less likely to visit Travel as a discretionary expense,
“Five years in, what we’ve talked about internally as a team is that when someone wants to plan a trip, they won’t say, check the reviews, they’ll say, copy my boop,” Smith said. “And, so each real journey becomes a guide, and each memory becomes a new currency.”
