Airbnb Bets on AI Search to Reshape Trip Planning, Hosting, and Customer Support

Key Highlights:

  • Airbnb plans to add AI-powered search and trip planning inside its app.
  • The company is testing natural language queries for listings and locations.
  • AI customer support already handles about one-third of user issues.
  • Sponsored listings may appear later inside conversational AI search.

Airbnb is preparing to roll out deeper AI features inside its app, aiming to change how users search for stays, plan trips, and manage hosting. The update matters because Airbnb is moving from basic search toward a more conversational, personalized experience powered by large language models.

Speaking during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Brian Chesky said Airbnb is building what he described as an “AI-native experience.”

Instead of just filtering listings, the app will use AI to understand users better. The goal is to help guests plan complete trips and assist hosts with daily operations. Airbnb also plans to use AI across customer discovery, support, and engineering.

The company confirmed it is testing a new AI search feature that allows users to ask questions in natural language. Users can describe what they want and explore properties or destinations conversationally.

How AI search could change trip planning

Airbnb said the AI search experience is live for a very small percentage of users. The company is running experiments to make it more conversational and useful across different stages of a trip.

Over time, Airbnb expects AI search to extend beyond booking. It could help with planning, recommendations, and on-trip assistance. Chesky said sponsored property slots may come later, once the design and user experience are finalized.

What role ads may play later

When asked about ads inside AI search, Chesky said Airbnb is focused on getting the experience right first. Sponsored listings could appear eventually, designed to fit naturally into conversational search results rather than traditional ad formats.

This signals a potential shift in how ads work on Airbnb, especially as AI search becomes more prominent.

AI customer support is already scaling

Airbnb said its AI-powered customer support bot, launched in North America last year, now resolves about 30 percent of customer issues without human agents.

The company plans to expand the bot’s language coverage and add voice-based AI support. Chesky said more than 30 percent of tickets could be handled by AI within a year.

Internal AI adoption and leadership push

Airbnb is also increasing AI use internally. The company said about 80 percent of its engineers already use AI tools, with a goal of reaching full adoption.

Chesky highlighted the role of new CTO Ahmad Al-Dahle, who previously worked on Meta’s Llama models. Airbnb plans to use its identity and review data more effectively to improve the app.

In the quarter, Airbnb reported revenue of $2.78 billion, up 12 percent year over year. As Airbnb doubles down on AI, the company is signaling that search, support, and hosting workflows will increasingly revolve around conversational intelligence.

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