SCALE With AI and SCALE UK bring two conferences to Brighton in June 2026
Brighton Dome Corn Exchange will host back-to-back conferences on 9-10 June 2026 for UK holiday let and serviced accommodation operators. SCALE With AI debuts on Tuesday as a dedicated day on artificial intelligence implementation. SCALE UK follows on Wednesday with the flagship conference covering regulation, market data, distribution and leadership.
Around 300 professional operators will attend across both days. No vendor pitches are permitted - every attendee is a working operator.
Day 1: SCALE With AI (Tuesday 9 June)
The full day focuses on concrete AI implementation: which tools operators are using, for which tasks, and what results they are seeing.
Graham Donoghue, Group CEO of Forge Holiday Group, will discuss "Using AI as a Superpower." Donoghue manages more than 30,000 homes across Sykes Holiday Cottages, Forest Holidays and Bachcare. He says AI delivers a 30% competitive advantage with 70% adoption across 1,000+ employees.
Luca Zambello, CEO of Jurny, will address "The End of Generic Hospitality: Hyper-Personalization at Scale Is Here." Zambello leads an AI-native property management platform and argues that AI finally gives small operators the predictive capability once reserved for large chains.
Jessica Gillingham, Founder and CEO of Abode Worldwide, will cover "When Machines Define the Market: Power, Authority and the Future of Short-Term Rentals." Her session explains how large language models are reshaping the buyer journey and what operators need to do to appear in AI-powered search results.
Ela Mezhiborsky, Co-Founder and President of Autohost, will discuss "Bad AI in Hospitality: Defending Against the New Fraud Toolkit." She will address synthetic identities, voice cloning and deepfake IDs from the front line of guest screening.
Rick van der Plas, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Hostaway, will examine "The Hidden Risks of AI for STR Management and How to Overcome Them." Van der Plas will separate effective AI guest communication automation from features merely labelled "AI."
Other speakers include Boris Pavlov (Onseason) on beginner AI concepts and distribution, Neely Khan on visibility in AI search, and Sébastien Grosjean (Smily) and Steve Taggert (My Getaways) on live AI voice agents for guest communication.
Day 2: SCALE UK (Wednesday 10 June)
The flagship UK conference covers market trends, regulation, distribution, technology and team structure. Content is based on feedback from previous SCALE events.
Alistair Handyside MBE (Chair, PASC UK), Fiona Campbell MBE (CEO, Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers) and Janet Uttley (CEO, STAA) will lead "From Voluntary to Vital: The Future of Short-Term Rental Licensing in the UK." The three speakers directly shape policy and registration schemes across England, Scotland and Wales.
Graham Donoghue returns for a fireside chat with Jessica Gillingham on restructuring a 30,000-home business for AI-native operations and agentic search.
Becky Ward, CEO of Simply Owners, will discuss "The Trust Advantage: Beating the OTA Rankings with Human-Driven Direct Bookings." Her session addresses how to win visibility and guest trust without relying on algorithm gaming.
Dale Smith (Host & Stay), Emma Kelman (The Island Holiday Company) and Richard Bond (Finest Retreats) will participate in "What Makes an STR Leader?" - a panel on culture and scale for operators thinking beyond systems.
Thibault Masson, Founder of Rental Scale-Up and Global Head of Product Marketing at PriceLabs, will present "The 'Market' Doesn't Exist: How to See Real Opportunities in Short-Term Rentals." He argues that market averages hide opportunity and that operators need to benchmark against the right peer groups by location, property type and quality level.
Sally Henry (KeyData) and Miro Gospodinov will open with "Checking the Pulse - Five Key Signals Shaping the UK STR Market." Shahar Goldboim (Boom) will discuss growth strategy in "The Architecture of Scale." An OTA panel titled "The Gloves Are Off" will address operator and OTA relationships.
The venue
Brighton Dome Corn Exchange is a Grade I-listed former riding school commissioned by the Prince Regent in the early 19th century. It reopened in 2023 after a £38 million restoration. The main Corn Exchange hall hosts the SCALE Stage; the adjoining Studio Theatre runs parallel sessions. Day one closes with drinks on site and an after-party on Brighton Seafront, sponsored by Hostaway and Wheelhouse.
Who should attend
SCALE targets professional operators: holiday let and serviced accommodation managers, hosts and property management companies typically managing 10 or more units. SCALE does not sell tickets to service providers, so every attendee is a working operator facing similar business challenges.
Tickets are available through the official SCALE UK website. Many attendees purchase combined tickets for both days.
Why operators should consider attending
If your focus is AI implementation for holiday lets, SCALE With AI on Tuesday provides concrete examples of tools, automation and AI-driven discovery. If you run a UK holiday let or serviced accommodation business, Wednesday's SCALE UK covers market direction, regulation and distribution decisions that determine business growth.
The networking across 300 professional operators with no vendor presence tends to justify attendance alone.
Your membership also unlocks:
