Starting this week, a Seattle-based startup is tackling one of travel planning's biggest pain points: transforming scattered recommendations into actionable itineraries. Boop, which launched its mobile app on November 18, uses artificial intelligence to convert real trips into personalized travel guides that users can book directly through the platform.
The company was established in February by Nancy Li Smith, formerly an AR/VR innovation leader at Meta and Microsoft. Boop secured $3.2 million in pre-seed funding in May, co-led by Bling Capital and BBG Ventures, with backing from industry veterans including TripAdvisor co-founder Stephen Kaufer and former Marriott International president Stephanie Linnartz.
The platform addresses a market gap within an industry projected to expand dramatically. The AI in travel market was valued at $131.7 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $2,903.7 billion by 2033, representing a compound annual growth rate of 36.25%. Beyond market size, women make 80-82% of travel decisions, yet often bear the emotional burden of planning.
"All these years of the emotional and logistical labor for free," Smith explained during a press briefing. "Boop is now solving this."
The app works by passively tracking users' movements during trips—similar to fitness trackers—then applying AI to location data and photo metadata to reconstruct itineraries. Friends and followers can copy these verified experiences, adjusting them through conversational AI to match personal preferences, budgets, and schedules.
Research from Nielsen consistently shows recommendations from friends and family rank as the most trusted form of influence, with trust levels exceeding 80%. Boop capitalizes on this by prioritizing social proof over algorithmic suggestions, distinguishing itself in a crowded field where platforms like Layla have already generated over 10 million itineraries since early 2024.
The monetization model centers on creator economy principles. When users book through shared "Boop with me" links, the company splits affiliate commissions—typically 10-25% from partners like Expedia and Booking.com—with content creators. For influencers with substantial followings, this could translate to five or six figures annually.
Industry observers remain measured in their assessment. "Boop taps into the perfect intersection of social discovery and travel commerce," noted a technology analyst reviewing the launch. "But unless Boop cracks retention and monetization beyond influencer sparkle, it risks becoming another glossy app people forget between trips."
Currently invite-only with a public waitlist, Boop is targeting Gen Z travelers specifically—a demographic that increasingly begins destination research on TikTok or Instagram rather than traditional search engines, with close to 40% of young adults using social platforms first.
Future development includes calendar integration for automatic itinerary updates and real-time recommendations based on user location and network preferences.
"In five years, they won't say check the reviews," Smith projected. "They'll say, copy my Boop."