Direct Bookings, AI Agents & Why Airbnb Fees Are Going to 20% | Mark Simpson Returns

🔥 LAST CHANCE — STR AI SUMMIT, June 23-24 | Freedom Factory, Beverly, MA

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This is where direct bookings, AI agents, and the next decade of STR get built — live, with the operators leading the charge.

Yorkshire, UK — Mark Simpson spent $50,000 on human appointment setters last year. They did almost nothing.

Then he built one AI agent named Icarus. In 7 days, it closed a $5,000 deal. Cost? Less than $20.

Two months later, Mark has 18 AI agents running inside Boostly. They've generated $54,000 in revenue. And he says he's never hiring a human setter again.

Mark Simpson is the founder of Boostly — the company helping STR operators escape over-reliance on Airbnb and own their direct bookings. He grew up on a farm in North Yorkshire, where his family ran a BNB. Over the last decade, he's refined the most complete direct bookings playbook in the vacation rental industry. Now on his 7th appearance on the show, he's back with the rawest, most honest take on AI agents we've had to date.

This is his blueprint for direct bookings, AI agents, and what's about to happen to operators who don't adapt.

What you'll learn:

→ Why Mark predicts Airbnb's commission is going from 15.5% to 20% — and what the data shows

→ The 65% direct booking goal — and why going 100% direct is just as dangerous as 100% Airbnb

→ The 3 things every direct booking website needs that 90% of operators still get wrong

→ The exact story of Icarus: how Mark built his first AI agent in 2 days and made his money back in 7

→ How Boostly went from a team of 20 to a team of 150 without hiring a single human

→ Why 0.05% of people pay for AI Pro — and how $18 a month puts you in the top 99.5% globally

→ The "18 minutes a day" rule that quietly turns operators into AI power users

→ How Mark trained his entire 22-person team on AI without overwhelming a single person

→ The honest answer to "are you teaching your team to replace themselves?"

→ Why "the cream rises to the top" — and which roles are about to disappear

🎙️ Guest: Mark Simpson | Founder, Boostly

🔗 Website: https://www.boostly.co.uk

🔗 Boostly Connect: https://boostlyconnect.com

🔗 LinkedIn: Mark Simpson

🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boostlyuk

🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrmarksimpson

🔗 Book recommendation link: http://bit.ly/2WEOm1v

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⏱️ TIMECODES

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00:00 - The $50K wasted on human setters and the AI agent that changed everything

01:32 - Mark Simpson returns for his record-breaking 7th episode

02:15 - Life update: 4 kids, World Cup tickets, and the UK trip this summer

03:29 - "Don't build your home on someone else's land" — Mark's signature line

04:00 - Airbnb's fee hike from 3% to 15.5% — and why he saw it coming in 2022

04:30 - The next prediction: why Airbnb is going to 20% commission

06:38 - Top 3 things every operator needs to start direct bookings TODAY

07:02 - Why WordPress still wins in 2026 (and why your PMS landing page isn't a real website)

08:54 - When to flip from "this is a hobby" to "this is a business" (around property 6-7)

09:30 - Why exit-ready businesses always have strong direct booking revenue

11:51 - What does "good" look like? The 65% direct booking benchmark

13:49 - The two-part myth: high-converting website AND content/SEO effort

14:27 - Why hospitality operators are spoiled — and why that's a problem

16:40 - The fundamentals of business that STR operators keep ignoring

17:26 - The "do you know anyone" referral mindset most operators are too scared to use

19:55 - The mirror moment: who do yo