Airbnb is moving into hotels, expanding AI for host onboarding and customer support

Airbnb’s core business was to allow users to book a room or an entire property owned by someone else. In most cases, the host will be a homestay or property owner, and you will get accommodation with basic services such as a bed, bathroom and kitchen. The company is now introducing hotels to its platform to generate new revenues and provide more options for travelers to book stays.

The company has tested Hotel listings for a few months And she’s officially adding a filter to search for her in her app. Initially, the travel technology company partnered with boutique hotels in 20 cities, including New York, Paris, London, Madrid, Rome and Singapore.

Users will see a pop-up to look at hotels if they are looking for a one- or two-night stay in the city. They can also choose to see only hotels by applying a specific filter in the search. Airbnb said it offers a price match guarantee and will refund the difference in app credits if you find the listing for a lower price elsewhere.

“There are some examples of types of trips that a hotel might be a better fit for, like last-minute bookings, overnight stays, and business trips. What we’ve done in the Airbnb app is that when we see you’re looking for this type of stay, we can recommend hotels without sending you to another part of the app or clicking on another tab,” Jude Coplan, Airbnb’s VP of marketing, told TechCrunch in a phone call.

For Airbnb, this is also an opportunity to offer stays to travelers in locations like New York City and Singapore, where short-term stays are prohibited.

Booking properties is just one part of the equation for Airbnb now. The company also wants users to do so Book of experiences and servicesWhich was launched last year during their trip as well. In the past few months, the company launched Deliver groceries to properties and Airport reception services. With its summer launch, Airbnb is adding luggage storage at more than 15,000 locations. In addition, it will launch car rental services this summer.

Through trials, the company is adding visits with local guides to 3,000 teachers. It also adds more than 2,500 food experiences to the mix. Through these offers, Airbnb will try to better compete with Viator or GetYourGuide.

Airbnb is redesigning the app to accommodate all the different parts, like Stays, Experiences, and Services. On the home page, users will see suggestions for all categories. But they can switch to individual tabs and look at a specific view as well.

Although the company has not launched any official loyalty program, it will begin offering Airbnb credits for your first car rental booking or up to 15% credit on hotel bookings. Earning these credits could prompt people to use the app more, which could be a test of a long-term loyalty program.

But where is artificial intelligence?

numerous He travels Companies He owns Added itinerary builders or AI-powered trip planning tools. Airbnb has moved away from this trend. In the most recent earnings call, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said that a chatbot as an interface is not suitable for travel.

“I think the way we think about AI is how we use it to help people find what they’re looking for more effectively and efficiently. With this release, we have AI deployed across a number of features across the app on the guest side and the host side,” Coplan said.

The company uses artificial intelligence in some other tools. With this release, it will allow hosts to add their addresses and let the AI ​​fill in the details to easily create the list. On the client side, it offers category tags such as location, amenities, and family-friendliness that allow you to browse reviews related to the tag.

The company is also adding a tool that compares properties on your wish list and displays AI-generated summaries to provide you with information about the property you can choose.

The biggest area in which Airbnb is applying AI is customer service. I introduced an artificial intelligence bot for United States last year It is now looking to expand globally with support in 11 languages. Chesky said during the first quarter 2026 call that A chatbot handles 40% of their inquiries. Updated support will also contain interactive cards, such as how to update your flight or resolve other issues.

Airbnb said later this year it will begin using a voice AI assistant that users can talk to over a call. It said it is working with multiple partners for this product, but did not identify any names.