Airbnb News

What started as AirBedandBreakfast.com has grown into a massive public company that IPOd in 2020. Airbnb is now the world’s largest online alternative-accommodation community, allowing millions of users to list, search, and rent authentic homestays and vacation-rental experiences in countless cities across the globe.

Online Travel

The Travel Industry Needs a New Way to Read OTA Results

OTAs posted double-digit growth in the latest earnings cycle even as consumer travel spending declined. The industry needs a new framework for reading these results — and the signals that actually matter.

Rafat Ali | 5 days ago

An Airbnb host arranging a table in a home.

Hotels

Airbnb Lets Asia Pacific Guests Book Without Paying Upfront: Here’s How It Works

Although the rollout spans most major Asia-Pacific markets, travelers in India still won’t see the feature yet, a notable exclusion given the country’s size and growing outbound travel demand.

Peden Doma Bhutia | 6 days ago

An EV charger shown at the Cambria Nashville Airport Choice Hotels International

Ground Transport

Airbnb Is Testing Airport Pickups. Are Flights Next?

Airbnb likely sees how flights are driving Booking Holdings' connected-trip vision. The timing is unclear, but it needs flights if it wants to be a true "travel concierge."

Dennis Schaal | 1 week ago

a man sitting on a yellow chair on a stage

Hotels

Booking CEO Touts Ties With Independent Hotels as Agentic AI and Airbnb Seek Gains

We sometimes think of independent hotels as relatively powerless given the strength of the OTAs and the big hotel chains. Will agentic AI turn the tables?

Dennis Schaal | 2 weeks ago

Airbnb guests standing and talking in a doorway of a home in Cape Town, South Africa.

Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb Tests Loyalty Benefits. Chesky Says Program ‘Could Be a Massive Accelerant’

In 2018, Airbnb had a "superguest" loyalty plan in the works to reward frequent guests with premium benefits, but it never came to be. Might the loyalty benefits being tested resurrect some of those plans?

Dennis Schaal | 2 weeks ago

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky speaking on stage

Hotels

Airbnb’s Hotel Strategy Is Now ‘Much Bigger’

There is absolutely no doubt that eventually Airbnb will take on Booking.com head-on in homes and hotels. But then what will set the two rivals apart?

Dennis Schaal | 2 weeks ago

Online Travel

Chesky Disses Rivals’ Chatbots — Calls Airbnb’s AI ‘Impossible to Replicate’

In an era when speed to market is a given, Chesky is arguing that nice and easy does it will win the day. It would be better to say, "We are behind in our AI development, but we are confident that we will get to where we need to be."

Dennis Schaal | 3 weeks ago

Podcasts

Scaling Short-Term Rentals Is Harder Than the Industry Admits

Short-term rentals are no longer a frontier business. Outside of a small group of disciplined operators, the sector has settled into a slow, operational grind that favors local execution over national ambition.

Wil Slickers | 1 month ago

Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb Debate Continues: Who Is STR Innovation Actually For?

Those invested in the current model aren’t happy when we point out a simple truth: The magic of short-term rentals has been professionalized out of existence.

Rafat Ali | 1 month ago

Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb Services Is Offering ‘Ready to Heat’ Meals From Celebrity Chefs

Consider Airbnb's partnership with CookUnity an experiment to see if there is a market for such services.

Dennis Schaal | 1 month ago