Airbnb’s new Services and revamped Experiences verticals, which were launched as part of the company's 2025 Summer Release in May, have been well-received by customers.
While the addition of services and experiences faced criticism from hosts, the short-term rental giant said the response from users has been “overwhelmingly positive,” with services and experiences ratings averaging 4.89 out of five stars, compared to 4.8 for homes.
During a call with financial analysts on Tuesday night to discuss the company's second quarter earnings results, Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky fielded several questions about its new lines of business, highlighting its vetting process. Unlike with homes, the CEO said Airbnb is checking the identities and credentials of every experience provider.
“We actually are managing the quality of experiences even more than we’re managing the quality of homes ... The input is that we actually vet every single experience on Airbnb before it comes out on the platform. We do not vet every home,” he said.
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“The result of that is that the average home has got a 4.8 rating. The average experience has a greater than 4.93 rating. So, we think this is working.”
Chesky further noted that the company is “very satisfied with the awareness” of experiences, specifically.
“The biggest problem we've had historically, even with the patch rates, people didn't know we even had Airbnb Experiences,” he said. “The launch rendered over 13,000 articles, 660 million social media impressions. We've also seen increased visibility of our products through our newly redesigned homepage, and guests really love Airbnb Experiences.”
Local demand has proven lucrative as well, particularly for services, with approximately 10% of services booked by people that are nearby, as opposed to those staying in an Airbnb property.
“There could be a huge opportunity for demand of local booking services. Think about all the people that would have a chef come to their home that aren't traveling, people that want a [masseuse] to come to their home, that aren't traveling. I think there's a huge opportunity here,” Chesky said.
Shifting browsing habits
Chesky highlighted an increase in travelers booking from Airbnb’s homepage, which he called a “major behavioral change” from the last 17 years.
“The Holy Grail is to get more and more people to be in browse and discovery mode, almost like on Netflix or DoorDash,” he said. “It’s been a really hard nut to crack within travel, but we think we’ve done it because what we’ve seen is that increasingly, more and more guests are engaging, not just strictly with experiences on the homepage, but with home.”
According to Chesky, this allows Airbnb to divert travel to where it has available supply and increase traffic conversion rates.
There’s been many other things that I could call out about the launch, but that would be the key thing: People are engaged on their apps while on-trip and they’re engaging with our homepage.
Brian Chesky, Airbnb
Additionally, Airbnb’s Experience and Services offerings have increased the number of travelers who engage with the trip tab, which houses their itinerary, while traveling.
“This is critical because if we can get people to use the application on-trip and can get co-travelers to use it on-trip, then what we're really saying is we have this point-of-sale during the trip to cross-sell other things,” he said, noting that travelers are also interested in booking services and experiences “last minute.”
“There’s been many other things that I could call out about the launch, but that would be the key thing: People are engaged on their apps while on-trip, and they’re engaging with our homepage. This is really, really critical to booking more homes but also to cross-selling services and experiences,” Chesky said.
He further stated that is something online travel agencies “haven’t cracked,” arguing that Airbnb “has started to open the door.”
Impending AI, loyalty and hotel initiatives
Chesky also touched on artificial intelligence (AI) integrations and potential loyalty programs.
The CEO said Airbnb has a “very specific way to approach AI,” starting with customer service as opposed to using the technology for travel planning and inspiration. The company’s custom agent, which was rolled out in the U.S., has contributed to a 15% reduction in customers who need to speak with a human agent.
Moving forward, Chesky said he sees Airbnb “becoming an AI-first application.” Over the next year, plans are to introduce the agent in other languages, and next year, Airbnb will be bringing AI to travel search.
When asked about loyalty, Chesky said that even though most of Airbnb’s traffic is direct or unpaid, lacking a a membership program could put Airbnb at a “competitive disadvantage.”
“If we were to do something, I don’t think it would be a traditional points program, I think it would be something much more interesting and novel. But I absolutely think you should see something from us in the future—not imminently—but in the future.”
Chesky also talked up the company's work with hotels—it acquired HotelTonight in 2019—as a lever for growth.
“We've spoken with hotels around the world, especially independents, boutiques, inns, bed and breakfasts—a huge percentage of hotels in Europe are independents—and one of the things they said is they really want incremental travelers,” the CEO said.
“Homes will be the heart and soul of Airbnb, but that being said, in our top markets, especially during high season, people often don't find a home. We think hotels would be a great supplement, so I think there's a huge amount of growth there.”
Financial results
While both adjusted EBIDTA and net income were down in the first quarter this year, in Q2, Airbnb saw an uptick in metrics across the board.
Revenue was up 13% year over year to $3.1 billion, which the short-term rental giant attributed to “solid growth in nights stayed, a slight increase in average daily rate and the timing of Easter,” which fell in the second quarter this year.
Net income also rose in Q2, up 16% year over year to $642 million, and adjusted EBITDA grew 17% to $1 billion. Sales and marketing spend totaled $691 million, up from $593 million in Q2 2024.
Nights and seats booked increased as well, growing 7% year-over-year to 134.4 million, while gross booking value climbed to $23.5 billion, an 11% year-over-year increase.
Regionally, Airbnb called out strong results in its expansion markets, with double-digit year-over-year growth of nights booked in Germany. Brazil saw a “high-teens” increase in nights booked and a 20% growth in first-time bookers during the last quarter, while Japan saw year-over-year growth of origins nights booked thanks to higher domestic travel and a 15% increase in first-time bookers.