Meet Jurny, the AI startup changing the STR game

The Offer Sheet readers —

This Sunday, we’re excited to share our most recent sit-down interview with Jurny founder and CEO Luca Zambello. Jurny is re-writing the rules for short term rental tech, automation and AI.

In a short period of time, Jurny has already attracted $5.5M from the likes of Mucker Capital, Okapi Ventures, Singularity Capital and others. Their user base is up over 100% in the last 30 days, and they have already secured $2.2M in annual recurring revenue. Impressive work!

We delve into various topics including: ease of being an STR host via their tech and automation, how / why they got started, standing out from the competition — theirs and yours as an STR host, integration with Airbnb, and what’s in their future plans. Enjoy!

We’re pumped to be sitting down with Luca and the Jurny team. They are about to change the STR space in a big way, and we’re excited to learn about their journey (I couldn’t resist). How are you enabling AI to make the lives of STR hosts & operators simple?

Jurny is designed to be a one-stop destination to handle every aspect of property management, from booking to checkout. With AI-driven smart devices and a centralized dashboard, hosts can easily manage any number of properties and significantly cut down on - or even eliminate - the need for manual intervention in tasks like review management and guest support.

Our AI-powered guest support called Nia provides instant, accurate responses to guest queries around the clock. This not only enhances guest satisfaction but it also frees hosts from constant availability demands.

By incorporating AI, our goal is to have Jurny handle everything, even complex, time-consuming tasks, and to let hosts focus on what matters most - making guests happy and growing their businesses.

What is the Jurny story and how / why did you start the business?

Before becoming a software company I used to have a management company with over 300 short-term rental units across five cities. I have always been a big proponent of technology but as I became a property manager, my biggest struggle was making different technologies work together. It was incredibly frustrating. That is why Jurny was born - our goal is to be a one-stop easy-to-use solution for property managers. We do this by combining different solutions into a single platform. We believe that property managers shouldn’t be spending hundreds of hours trying to figure out which tech providers are best and then trying to make them all work together. We are doing all of that heavy lifting for them - Jurny combines the best solutions in the industry in one intuitive platform and enriches it with generative AI.

Our foundation lies in deep industry experience, advanced technology, and a commitment to simplicity. I’m proud to say, our approach streamlines complex processes without compromising the end product.

Is the product live today or in beta? Any sort of limitations or restrictions on usage?

While I believe software should never be “finished” - it should be ever-evolving and improving - we do have a fully live product on the market and it’s thriving with over 1,000 hosts using it every day. That being said we have a very busy roadmap ahead of product updates, new integrations, and strategic partnerships and we know there are no solutions in the market even close to what we do and offer.

Our free PMS alone is a game changer. This is an industry first; all of our competitors charge for the software and most have deployment and integration fees on top of that. The ability to offer a free product is made possible only through an extremely streamlined system, facilitating fully automated self-onboarding, something our competitors can't provide.

What kind of edge does this give STR hosts? And does it let someone scale from one property to five or ten in a much more streamlined fashion?

Another important objective during the development of this product was to create something that could evolve and expand alongside the host's business. As you may be aware, it is common in our industry for PMs to switch software and technologies multiple times as they constantly search for new solutions that can adjust to their ever-changing needs. With Jurny, hosts can expand from a single unit with our free product to tens of thousands of units with our premium products.

How does a reader of The Offer Sheet get involved with Jurny? Can they invest? Can they use the product? Any favorable terms / perks / access for our readers??

Because of the fast growth of the company and continued requests from our customers to invest in the business, we opened our VC backed round to retail investors and the community via Wefunder. We are still in private mode and launching to the public on Monday, July 31st, but for a limited time, we are offering exclusive early-bird terms at a discount. Anyone interested can learn more and invest as little as $250 today on Wefunder.

In less than a month in private mode, we have already raised over $2m and we expect even stronger traction once we launch to the public.

Any readers interested in trying Jurny can sign up on our website - starting price is $0, so theres really no risk: https://www.jurny.com/

Is there anyone else doing what you are? What makes you different & better than the competition?

I say the closest category to what we do would be PMS providers. While we share many similarities in function, our business model and product are vastly different. Jurny distinguishes itself from competitors through a streamlined, modern approach to hospitality management, born from firsthand experience with the limitations of traditional systems. Instead of adopting a fragmented, multi-vendor marketplace model, we concentrate on one vendor per vertical, even developing some in-house solutions like access control and IoT control. This focus makes Jurny scalable, user-friendly, and a leader in integrated systems.

Some of the key advantages of Jurny’s platform include:

Elimination of fragmentation: We offer a pre-built, efficient platform, reducing the need to piece together disparate solutions.

Unified dashboard: Our all-in-one dashboard allows seamless interoperability of different solutions.

Easy onboarding: Our quick, intuitive process stands in contrast to the often lengthy setup times of competitors.

Affordability: We leverage automation to offer a freemium product with no onboarding fees.

Adoption of new technologies: Our modern structure facilitates the easy adoption of cutting-edge technologies like AI.

What does pricing look like and which package do you generally recommend?

Our basic package is free and includes a direct, deep connection with Airbnb, integration with Zapier, Turno, and basically, a fully equipt vertically integrated PMS, all AI-enabled. But if you need advanced features like channel management, dynamic pricing, access control and guest verification, those are all upgrades available on the platform. We have very transparent pricing at Jurny.com, so you can find the best plan to fit your specific needs.

How did the integration / partnership direct with Airbnb come about? They clearly see the value in what you are building.

Airbnb has been a key partner for Jurny. They have decided to work with us in this partnership as they’ve seen first-hand the value our technology brings to their customers by allowing hosts to manage their properties better and more consistently, creating happier guests and driving more business. Everybody wins!

What kind of support do you offer when getting started with the platform? Or is it simple enough to understand on a self-serve basis?

The free product is very easy to use and is designed to be a single-click self-onboarding experience. However, all of our customers have access to Nia 24/7, which offers excellent tech support. Paid customers also have access to full-time human customer support, if desired.

What are future enhancements you are thinking of building in? What’s the long term vision for Jurny?

Our long-term vision for Jurny remains focused on streamlining the entire process of property management to a simple one-click operation.

We intend to further enhance our AI systems to automate even more facets of the hospitality industry, from intuitive booking systems to predictive maintenance and beyond. Our goal is to build a platform where every piece of software, and every setup process, is as straightforward and user-friendly as possible.

Our endgame is not only to change the hospitality industry's technological landscape but to enable hosts to manage their properties effortlessly, focusing their energy on providing outstanding guest experiences rather than dealing with time-consuming operational challenges.