Is the "click-through" era of travel over? For twenty years, platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com have been the indispensable gatekeepers of the industry. But with the launch of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), Google is attempting to collapse the entire booking journey into the AI layer.

What You’ll Learn

In this episode, Uvika Wahi breaks down why the traditional "search and compare" model is facing an existential threat and what professional managers must do to survive the shift to Agentic Commerce:

• The Inspiration Gap: Why travelers are spending over 13 minutes in AI interfaces and how UCP finally allows them to "act" instead of just "browse".

• The Live Pipe: A look at how UCP connects AI agents directly to your backend for real-time pricing and availability, bypassing the need for a traditional website or OTA middleman.

• The Luxury Exception: Why 76% of high-end travelers still demand a human advisor, and how UCP acts as an efficiency tool rather than a replacement for hospitality.

• 2026 Strategy: The rise of "Machine-Readable Trust" and the new storefront requirements for Google Merchant Center.

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Vacation Rental Trends 2026 didn’t start in 2026.In this episode, Uvika Wahi of RSU by PriceLabs breaks down the most important vacation rental and trends shaping 2026, using guidance from what happened in 2025.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why luxury positioning is accelerating, and why more brands are chasing it

• How Asia’s growing travel demand is reshaping global travel flows

• Why sports and live events are becoming the backbone of travel calendars

• What’s driving shorter booking windows and growing last-minute demand

• How regulation is forcing professionalisation and consolidation

• Why generic listings are losing visibility

• How AI-driven personalisation is changing discovery and conversion

• And why pricing has become psychological, not just mathematical

Built for professional vacation rental managers who want clarity, not noise.

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Across articles, podcasts, webinars, and industry conversations throughout the year, the same topics kept resurfacing. And when that happens, it usually means something structural is changing.

In this episode, we step back to connect the dots and break down the big themes that repeated all year — and why they matter as we head into 2026.

We cover:
• How regulation is structurally reshaping supply in key markets• Why fees aren’t disappearing — just changing how guests decide• What Airbnb’s moves into hotels, services, and experiences really signal• Why platform rules are tightening (and why that’s not random)• What the Vacasa story tells us about where the competitive landscape is heading

This isn’t about predictions or panic.
It’s about understanding direction, so fewer things catch you off guard next year.

If you’re planning for 2026, this episode helps you see the industry as a system, not as isolated news events.

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