AI in Short-Term Rentals: Costs, Flops and Hits

At the Short Stay Summit in London, Casago CEO Steve Schwab and Forge Holiday Group CEO Graham Donoghue discussed the costs and value of AI in the short-term rental industry. Forge spends $30,000-$50,000 monthly on Anthropic tokens and is considering a token optimizer role. Schwab predicts a 'token economy' and warns of rising compute costs. Despite expenses, both see value: Forge's Vivid Stay tool converts static images to video in 25 minutes, previously costing $2,000-$3,000. They also shared failures, including conversational search not gaining traction and employee resistance to change.