Instinct Says Travel Makes Up More Than Half of Platform Transactions
Travel leads activity on Instinct
Instinct founder Noah Shinn said more than 50% of transactions on the company’s invite-only personal-agent platform are related to travel. In an interview with investor Patrick O’Shaughnessy, Shinn also said Instinct is approaching a $1 billion annual transaction run rate, although he did not explain how that rate was calculated.
Shinn said the company is growing by 10% day by day, with transaction volume rising at a similar pace. The remarks position travel as the platform’s dominant live use case at a time when AI assistants are commonly demonstrated handling hotel, flight and itinerary requests.
An agent interface for urgent booking requests
Shinn contrasted Instinct with travel agencies and booking sites, which bring hotel chains, airlines and other services into one interface and let customers complete a purchase. He argued that an agent can offer a different interaction model, in which a user states an outcome or an urgent need rather than navigating a conventional search flow.
His example was a traveller who needs to be in New York the same night. The intended benefit is an interface that can interpret the request and coordinate options across providers, rather than requiring the traveller to work through separate hotel, airline or service listings.
The company’s financial capacity has recently expanded through Instinct’s $1 billion Series C funding, which placed Instinct’s Series C financing at $1 billion and its valuation at $10 billion. The 14-person startup is competing in the personal-agent market with Meta’s Muse and Khosla-backed Wajo.
Restaurant reservations raise design questions
Shinn also said Instinct wants to rethink restaurant reservations. He described a system in which an agent checks restaurant sites every five seconds and alerts a user when a suitable slot becomes available. He framed this around customers seeking tables for significant life events and restaurants seeking bookings connected to special occasions.
That idea has prompted criticism from observers who noted that agents could falsely claim anniversaries or other occasions to obtain reservations. They also argued that some restaurants value local regulars because those customers can bring repeat business to an outlet.
For businesses evaluating agent-led booking, the practical implication is to measure whether automation improves the customer journey while defining safeguards for truthful user requests and reservation policies that remain fair to both customers and venues.