For Luca Zambello, cofounder/CEO, Jurny, an agentic AI operating system, technology isn’t replacing hospitality—it’s redefining it. What began as a response to fragmented systems and disconnected guest experiences has evolved into a platform that helps hotels centralize operations, automate service and improve personalization.
“I started managing short-term rentals before Airbnb really took off,” he said. “We grew to about 300 units across five cities—Dallas, Nashville, Miami, New York and L.A.—but we quickly realized the industry was using fragmented tools borrowed from hotels. None of it was built for distributed operations.”
That realization led to the creation of a centralized operating system that worked not only for short-term rentals but also for the hotel industry. “We saw an opportunity to bring everything together—to centralize technology and data so we could build automation on top of it,” Zambello said. “That’s how Jurny started.”
From the beginning, Jurny was designed to simplify management while improving service.
“We focus on managing and automating the guest experience while also enhancing it,” he explained. “All guest communications—whether from OTAs, phone calls, WhatsApp, SMS or email—are centralized in one inbox. Then we deploy AI agents for guest support, concierge, upsells, reservations and property-specific SOPs [standard operating procedures].”
Those agents adapt to each property’s brand and standards. “If a guest reports an issue, the system follows that property’s exact protocol,” he said. “It might offer a discount or alert the on-site team. The same system also generates revenue through upsells or late checkouts. It’s hyper-personalization at scale.”
That philosophy led to the launch of Jurny OS (jOS), which “runs nearly every moving part of an operation,” Zambello said. “For boutique hotels and short-term rentals, it means one-platform control. For larger hotels with legacy systems, we integrate rather than replace. We’re already working with Opera and Visual Matrix. Visual Matrix is even embedding our AI tools directly into its product.”
The company’s momentum, he said, has come from hotels themselves. “Our move into hotels came from the demand side—brands reaching out to us because they saw the need,” he noted. “Phil Hugh, the chief development officer at Sonesta, and former Marriott executive Paul Toscano are both on our advisory board. Those relationships have been invaluable in shaping how we scale.”
Zambello sees Jurny’s mission as part of a larger industry evolution toward data-driven hospitality. “Hotels sit on a mountain of gold—guest data that’s totally underutilized,” he said. “Organizing and activating that data through AI will transform everything. AI isn’t replacing humans; it’s multiplying what they can do.”
He pointed to Jurny’s partnership with Viator as an example. “The system geolocates guests and recommends relevant experiences automatically,” he said. “If someone arrives early, AI checks availability and offers early check-in—sometimes as an upsell, sometimes as a courtesy. The idea is to personalize automation so it still feels human.”
Despite the excitement surrounding AI, Zambello warns that the technology is often misunderstood. “The industry either overhypes AI or underestimates it,” he said. “A recent MIT study showed that 95% of companies trying to adopt AI fail to achieve productivity gains because they don’t have the infrastructure or context.”
He likens AI to a bullet train. “AI can travel at Mach 4, but only if you’ve built the right tracks,” he said. “Most companies are judging the train while running it on 19th-century rails. You need the data infrastructure—the tracks—for AI to perform.”
That infrastructure, he said, is about connection and context. “AI isn’t a human,” he noted. “It’s brilliant in the middle but needs help at the beginning and end. Context comes from organized, connected data.”
While some hoteliers are hesitant to adopt advanced tech, Zambello believes the key is simplicity. “Older hoteliers might struggle to grasp this, and that’s OK,” he said. “It’s our job to make adoption simple. We use AI to structure what they already have. It’s instant value, not extra work.”
Looking ahead, Zambello expects a major divide between early adopters and laggards.
“In five years, operators using AI correctly will have such a big advantage that those who don’t will struggle to compete,” he said. “Moving from on-premise to cloud PMS was big; this next evolution is exponentially bigger.”
He cautions against rushing into automation without understanding it.
“Rushed automation is dangerous,” he said. “Some companies add a chatbot and call themselves ‘AI-powered.’ That’s not transformation. Without understanding the tech, you create security risks and bad experiences.”
For Zambello, technology’s purpose is clear. “Automation should elevate the guest experience—not cheapen it,” he said. “When done right, it doesn’t replace hospitality—it amplifies it.”
