The Travel Obsession
It’s lowkey becoming a meme that every AI demo features a person sparring with a chatbot to book a flight or a hotel. Well, turns out there’s a reason for that. Noah Shinn, founder of the viral AI agent platform Instinct, just spilled the tea: over 50% of the transactions on his platform are travel-related.
Shinn told investor Patrick O’Shaughnessy that while traditional booking sites basically just unify different airlines and hotels, AI agents like Instinct offer a more direct interface. The vibe is basically: instead of scrolling through tabs, you just tell the agent, “I need to be in NYC tonight, make it happen.” The platform is apparently growing 10% day-over-day, which is wild growth no cap.
The Reservation Revolution?
Shinn isn’t stopping at travel; he wants to fix the restaurant reservation game, too. Real talk: he thinks current systems are L-tier because they don't distinguish between a casual local diner and someone celebrating a massive life event.
His vision? An agent that pings restaurant sites every five seconds to snag you that prime table for your special occasion. The idea is that restaurants actually want these “special” guests rather than someone just taking up space.
The Hype vs. Reality
Before you get too hyped, there’s some pushback. Critics are pointing out that agents could lowkey lie about fake anniversaries just to land a booking. Plus, many restaurants actually prefer their local regulars who keep the lights on, not just one-off diners looking for a special vibe.
Also, keep in mind that Instinct is currently an invite-only platform. Even with a fresh $10 billion valuation and $1 billion in Series C funding from heavy hitters like Sequoia and Benchmark, the startup only has 14 employees. It’s entering the arena against big-budget competition like Meta’s Muse and Wajo.
Why it matters
Instinct is leaning into the “agent” trend, but whether it can actually reinvent hospitality or if it's just another tech tool that might over-promise on human interaction remains to be seen. It’s giving “we’ll see if this tech can actually handle the nuance of real life.”
