Boop’s new app turns social recommendations into bookable itineraries

In a sea of ​​AI-driven travel planning apps, a new startup called… Bob It aims to redefine the space with a new approach: turning social recommendations into bookable itineraries. Instead of getting a random AI-generated travel plan, the app gives users access to itineraries from real people who have gone on real trips.

When someone takes a trip, Boop uses AI to quickly turn their trip into an itinerary that others can copy and customize, primarily by looking at location data and metadata from photos they share with the app. The idea is to build a network of shared itineraries that people can monetize, 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 AI startup BrightAI.

Smith’s idea for Boop came after she felt there was no way to remember or share her travel recommendations efficiently.

She also wanted to address the stress and emotional labor that often comes with travel planning, especially for women Make approximately 80% of travel decisions They often feel pressured to make every trip perfect.

“Women are often the planners in the relationship and in family 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 for free. Boop is now working on solving this problem so we can easily capture this problem without people doing anything.”

Instead of having to search TikTok for recommendations, sift through hundreds of reviews, and pin ideas via Google Maps, users can access tested and favorite itineraries from creators and friends.

“Boop is the first AI-powered travel companion built on social trust,” Smith said. “What that means is that the minute you start a trip and start exploring and getting around, Boop remembers your trip in the background, so all of your stops, photos, and reservations and in the background turn this into a beautiful, shoppable itinerary that friends can now actually use.”

She continued: “And how this works is that, instead of planning from scratch – which is like a process that takes weeks – you can now just copy your friends’ real itinerary to Tokyo or Paris. With one click, you can chat with the AI ​​and in minutes you are able to customize it to make it your own.”

When users begin to “capture” a ride, the app tracks their movements in the background, similar to how a fitness app tracks steps or running routes, if the user gives the app permission to do so. The company says Boop’s AI doesn’t use location data for anything other than picking up rides and making recommendations. For example, if a user shares an interest in art and is located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, Boop might direct them to Atelier des Lumières.

In the future, Boop plans to integrate with users’ calendars, with their permission, in order to access existing reservations and add them to their itineraries.

Boop is useful when you’re on the road too, Smith says, and not just when planning a trip. For example, if you’re standing in central Tokyo at 11pm and feeling spontaneous, Boop can recommend something to do based on your taste and your friends’ recommendations.

Boop launches Tuesday on mobile and is currently available on an invite-only basis. The company currently has General waiting list Which users can join.

Smith says Boop offers early access to select travel creators whose trips people already want to copy. The startup has seen interest from creators who are already sharing their journeys and looking for a way to monetize their recommendations. Creators can share their journeys with followers through a “Boop with me” link that includes affiliate links.

“When people copy the link and book, we automatically integrate APIs for affiliate commissions from the industry, create an industry standard of 10-25% commissions, and return half of that to the creators,” Smith said. “With each copy, that means $50 to $100. And if you’re an influencer with 100,000 followers, and you have 100 people copying that, that’s going to be a five (or) six-figure income in the future.”

Boop works with affiliate hotel and experience aggregators and uses APIs to access affiliate booking inventory from platforms like Expedia, Booking.com, Marriott, and Viator.

Smith says Bob is fortunate to have the support of leaders from Tripadvisor, Marriott and Expedia, noting that they understand travel and consumer behavior. Notable investors include Steven Cover, co-founder and former CEO of Tripadvisor, and Stephanie Lennartz, former president of Marriott International.

In terms of funding, Boop raised $3.2 million in seed funding in May, co-led by Bling Capital and BBG Ventures.

As for the future, Boop wants to be the go-to place to book travel, especially since research shows that Gen Z is less likely to watch Travel as a discretionary expense.

“In five years, what we as a team talked about internally is that when someone wants to plan a trip, they’re not going to say, ‘Check the reviews,’ they’re going to say, ‘Copy my Boop,’” Smith said. “So every real journey becomes evidence, and every memory becomes new currency.”