VRWS Leadership Interview of the Day

1. What inspired you to enter the vacation rental industry?

I’ve been in the vacation rental space since well before Airbnb became a household name — over 15 years now. It started when I noticed a clear gap in the market: there were people searching for luxury villas to rent in Los Angeles, but hardly anything was available online. I launched a simple website listing high-end properties, and it took off. From there, I built a management company that grew to over 300 Airbnb units across five U.S. cities.

But as we scaled, we faced the same operational challenges everyone in the industry does. So we began developing internal software to solve our own problems. That’s when it hit us — the bigger opportunity wasn’t just in managing properties, but in building the tools that would allow others to do it better. That was the beginning of the transition from operator to tech company, and eventually, to founding Jurny.

2. What sets your company apart in the vacation rental industry, and how do you ensure you stay ahead of the competition?

What sets Jurny apart is that we saw the future of hospitality long before the market caught up. Back in 2019, we identified a massive gap in the industry: there was no truly centralized, fully integrated system capable of supporting a fully automated hospitality operation. As operators ourselves, we became obsessed with solving these pain points — starting with smart access control and remote operations. At the time, those features were virtually unheard of. We built one of the first solutions in the industry, and it quickly evolved into a much broader vision.

We realized that for automation and AI to make a meaningful impact, they needed a strong foundation — not a patchwork of tools and third-party integrations, but a unified platform where systems could communicate, trigger actions, and deliver measurable results. That’s what we built.

That foundation is what enabled us to launch NIA — a network of intelligent agents — over three years ago. While many in the industry are just now experimenting with AI chatbots, we were already deploying action-oriented agents capable of executing SOPs, upselling, managing guest communications, handling phone calls, and functioning as fully scalable digital teams. Each agent is narrowly focused, highly precise, and empowered to act — not just respond.

And because our platform is fully centralized, these agents don’t work in silos. They collaborate, access live operational data, and execute complex workflows in real time. This allows our customers to save thousands of hours annually while increasing revenue by up to 30% through smart upselling and streamlined operations.

In short, we built for the AI age before the AI age arrived. That early vision — and the infrastructure behind it — is why we’re not just ahead of the curve, but poised to lead the AI revolution in hospitality.

3. If you attended the 2024 Vacation Rental World Summit in Porto, what was the most exciting or valuable takeaway for you? And looking ahead to the 2025 edition in Rome, what are you hoping to gain or experience this time?

I’m eager to see the industry engage in deeper, more serious conversations around AI. There are still many misconceptions about what this technology is — and more importantly, what it isn’t. I believe that if people truly understood its capabilities and how to leverage it properly, they could already be seeing massive gains — even outside of platforms like Jurny.

VRWS has always been a place where forward-thinking professionals come together to share insights and strategies. I’m hopeful that this year’s summit will provide a platform for demystifying AI and exploring its real potential in our industry. If Rome becomes the place where we collectively start to understand and embrace AI’s transformative power, that would be incredibly exciting — and long overdue.

4. Beyond business, what’s one experience or destination that left a lasting impression on you, and why?

Moving from Italy to the U.S. when I was 21 was a life-changing experience. I’ve now spent over 16 years in the U.S., and the blend of these two cultures has completely reshaped how I think — especially when it comes to ambition and innovation.

Growing up in Italy gave me strong roots, but it was when I landed in Los Angeles — surrounded by early tech culture and entrepreneurs thinking 10x bigger — that my mindset expanded. LA, in many ways, is a shadow tech hub behind Silicon Valley, and being immersed in that energy helped me see how infinite the possibilities really are when you’re exposed to the right ideas and people.

That environment opened my eyes to the power of technology to reshape industries, unlock opportunity, and drive meaningful progress. I used to wish I had been an entrepreneur during the dot-com era — but now, I truly believe we’re on the edge of something even bigger with AI. And I feel incredibly fortunate to have developed the mindset to recognize that, simply because I made the decision to move, absorb a new culture, and surround myself with people who saw the world differently.

5. What’s one fun fact, hidden talent, or little-known secret about you that other attendees should know to spark a great conversation with you?

Not everyone knows this, but I’m dyslexic — and over the years, I’ve come to see it as one of my greatest strengths. It’s shaped how I process the world: I naturally look at problems from different angles, often seeing patterns or solutions others might miss. That’s a big part of why I’m an entrepreneur — I genuinely love solving problems, optimizing systems, and building things that improve over time.

But it’s not just about my own journey. One of the things I enjoy most is helping other founders tackle challenges they’re stuck on. If you’ve got a problem you’re wrestling with, I’m always up for the conversation.