Ten Blue Links Are Dead: What AI Really Means for How Guests Find You with Milena Nikolić Heywa Labs

Most of us in short-term rentals know AI exists. Far fewer of us are using it well. This episode is about closing that gap.My guest is Milena Nikolić, former CTO of Trainline and former senior director at Google Play, now founder of Heywa Labs. She has never run a rental, and that is exactly why she is on. She is one of those rare people who can explain anything, however complicated, in a way that actually makes sense. So I pointed her at our world.We cover what AI really is underneath the hype, why large language models work as well as they do, and why the conversational chatbot is a bad interface that won't last. Milena makes the case that ten blue links are dead, that guest discovery is shifting from search to delegation, and that the businesses who win will be the ones an AI chooses to put in front of a guest.We also get into how operators get found in this new world, what replaces traditional SEO, how advertising on AI platforms might be priced, and the one shift in guest behaviour that should be keeping every operator up at night.If you have ever wondered what AI actually means for how people find and book your properties, start here.