# About AuraScope

Canonical page: https://aurascope.co/about/  
Last updated: 23 October 2026

We're a New Zealand team building towards a travel industry where AI agents can find, understand and book directly with travel brands.

## What we're building

Today, AuraScope measures how ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity represent your brand, shows which sources shape those answers, and identifies what needs to change.

We're developing the booking layer next, so AI agents can move from recommending a travel brand to booking directly with it.

## Why we're betting on travel

We think trip planning is one of the first jobs people will hand to an AI agent, and those agents are starting to book. Meta, OpenAI and xAI all launched [personal agents](https://aurascope.co/research/travel-ai-search/#personal-agents) in August and September 2026. An agent books whatever it can read, and today that's usually an online travel agency, with the commission going with it.

- **1st** authenticated agentic payments in New Zealand, in February 2026, included an AI agent booking a stay at QT Queenstown. Source: Mastercard and Westpac NZ, 17 February 2026. [Announcement](https://www.westpac.co.nz/about-us/media/mastercard-completes-nzs-first-authenticated-agentic-transactions-with-westpac/)
- **88.8%** of NZ Tech Expo attendees have used an AI assistant to plan a trip. Only 1 of the 79 who had used one let it book. Source: Our survey of 89 attendees, September 2026. [Results](https://aurascope.co/research/travel-ai-search/#nz-tech-expo-survey)
- **79.4%** of the New Zealand hotel websites we could audit fully are hard for AI to read. Source: Our audit of 147 luxury and boutique hotel websites, May 2026. [Method and results](https://aurascope.co/research/travel-ai-search/#nz-hotel-audit)

So we're building it here first, with paid design partners in New Zealand: a glamping network and a luxury lodge so far.

To be straight: most travellers aren't ready to let an agent book yet, and nobody publishes agent booking numbers. We think that's the window. The brands an agent can read when it arrives are the ones it can book.

The full research, with every source: [The state of AI search in travel](https://aurascope.co/research/travel-ai-search/)

## Our core team

- **Derrick Edward**, Founder, Head of Product & GTM. Leads product, customer discovery and go-to-market. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-edward/)
- **Nick Varley**, Founding Engineer, Head of Engineering. Builds the measurement system and the booking layer we're developing. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-varley-036aab215/)
- **Abe Gibson**, Fractional Head of, Operations & Strategy. Supports operations, planning and business strategy. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/abrahamgibson/)

## How we work

### Our method is public.

The commitments behind every result, and where the evidence stops, are set out in one versioned document. [Measurement method](https://aurascope.co/methodology/)

### Unbuilt features are labelled.

On this site, anything still in development carries a label saying so. [What a result can and can't show](https://aurascope.co/methodology/#ladder)

### We don't guarantee bookings.

The booking still depends on your rates, your product and demand. We show what AI says, what to change, and whether it moved. [What the audit can't tell you](https://aurascope.co/ai-bookability-audit/#limits)

### Design partners pay, and the work is written down first.

Every engagement is scoped in writing before any money moves, so the result means something. [Design partners](https://aurascope.co/#partners)

### Your systems stay yours.

The changes we recommend are made on your own website, by your team or your agency. Nothing you run is replaced or migrated. [Where AuraScope sits](https://aurascope.co/#what-it-does)

## The quickest way to meet us is a 30-minute audit.

[Book a 30-minute audit](https://calendar.app.google/qn7petKiQgp4R6o4A) · [What the audit covers](https://aurascope.co/ai-bookability-audit/)