Airbnb just turned 18, and for the umpteenth time, they’re trying to reinvent themselves.
On May 20, Pacific Time, Airbnb rolled out a bunch of new categories at their 2026 Summer Product Launch.
CEO Brian Chesky explained that this upgrade is all about adding more layers. On the services side: grocery delivery, airport pickups and drop-offs, luggage storage, and car rentals. For stays: they’re adding thousands of boutique and independent hotels, starting with 20 hot cities like New York and Paris—plus price protection and cashback deals. And for experiences: think landmark tours, food & culture, local events. Most of this stuff will start rolling out this summer.
Translation? Airbnb is moving fast from a bare-bones rental platform to a one-stop travel booking machine.
But here’s the thing: becoming a traditional OTA is the last thing they want.
“Travel should mean something,” says Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and chief strategy officer. In an interview, he told us Airbnb wants every traveler to feel like a local insider, not just another tourist passing through. That, to him, is the core difference between Airbnb and the old-school OTAs.
When we asked whether Airbnb will eventually morph into a traditional OTA or create something completely new, Blecharczyk didn’t hesitate: the latter.
“Absolutely not,” he said about copying the OTA playbook. “OTAs just list everything out—there’s no real perspective. They’re just a giant directory with no soul.”
He went on to explain that Airbnb is building a multi-entry product matrix: homes, hotels, experiences, services—they’re all separate doors into the platform. Over time, those doors feed each other traffic, creating a strategic synergy that supports the whole ecosystem.
That “multi-entry” logic already showed up in this year’s Q1 earnings. During the May 7 earnings call, Brian Chesky revealed that Experiences are becoming a real demand driver: nearly a quarter of users who book an experience for the first time later book a stay or service, and about a third end up booking a home within 90 days. Also, roughly 55% of users who first book a hotel on Airbnb come back to book a home later.
The latest numbers back that up. Airbnb’s Q1 revenue hit $2.7 billion—up 18% year-over-year. Net income came in at around $160 million, a 3.9% increase. Adjusted EBITDA was roughly $519 million, up 24%.
And in this big upgrade, the app is getting a full-on AI injection: review summaries, home comparisons, shared itineraries—the works.
AI is also seeping deeper inside the company. Brian Chesky revealed on the Q1 call that nearly 60% of the code written by Airbnb’s engineers is now AI-generated—that’s about double the industry average. AI-powered customer support self-resolution has jumped from about one-third last fall to over 40%, and the cost per booking has dropped around 10% year-over-year.
But interestingly, Airbnb hasn’t spun up a separate AI department. According to Blecharczyk, they see AI as a basic skill every employee needs to master. Engineers, he said, are natural early adopters, so the company’s current approach is to let those early adopters produce real results and then share their methods.
This bottom-up, early-adopter-driven spread feels more natural for Airbnb right now than creating a dedicated AI silo.
Zooming out: the travel industry’s biggest growth levers right now are personalization and immersive experiences.
According to Allied Market Research, the global personalized travel and experiences market is expected to hit $447.3 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 17.8% from 2021 to 2030. Within that, the OTA channel is projected to grow from $22.6 billion in 2020 to $132.6 billion by 2030.
Meanwhile, Chinese outbound travel is booming. The National Immigration Administration reports nearly 700 million border crossings in 2025—a record high. Reports from Ctrip, Mastercard, and others all point to a “short-haul-first, experience-driven” phase for Chinese outbound travelers.
Blecharczyk confirmed that trend in our interview. In the first few months of this year, Chinese users’ bookings during the World Cup period more than doubled, with average trip lengths of 9 days and a tendency toward multi-destination itineraries.
But make no mistake: the road ahead isn’t easy for Airbnb. In overseas markets, giants like Booking.com still command massive traffic bases and conversion advantages.
Brian Chesky himself admitted on the earnings call that Airbnb’s hotel conversion rates still lag significantly behind Booking.com, and he sees that as a huge untapped opportunity.
China is even more complex. Airbnb has sidestepped direct competition in the domestic market, but local players like Meituan, Douyin, Ctrip, and Mafengwo have already carved out strong positions in local tours, small-group trips, and services. Airbnb’s new service categories (grocery delivery, luggage storage, etc.) are basically local-life-platform offerings in China.
And Chinese OTAs are speeding up their overseas expansion. Ctrip’s 2025 Q1 report shows Trip.com’s booking volume grew over 60% year-over-year. Ctrip has publicly stated its goal to double its overseas revenue share within 3–5 years.
Still, there’s room for Airbnb in China. Executives have repeatedly said China is an important market. That’s why, at every global launch event, someone asks: “Will Airbnb ever return to the domestic China business?”
Airbnb announced its entry into the Chinese market in 2015 and officially launched in 2016. But after a whole bunch of factors, it suspended domestic operations in 2022, shifting focus entirely to the Chinese outbound travel segment.
When we asked about that, Blecharczyk told us the company’s current priority is the fast-growing Chinese outbound market. As for whether they’ll ever come back to domestic China, he said they’re not ruling it out—but also not committing to anything specific.
Blecharczyk admitted that Chinese visa policies are making the country a huge travel destination opportunity. But given the intense competition there, Airbnb needs to figure out the “right way” to enter before making any moves.
When we pressed him on whether there’s a timeline for a potential return, he flatly said: no concrete timetable to share yet.
