Airbnb (ABNB) Q4 FY25 earnings call: guidance and Q&A

Can AI platforms launch short-term rental platforms, and will Airbnb have to share economics or lose direct traffic to AI platforms?

Brian Chesky stated that Airbnb's core value lies beyond the app, in its 18 years of platform building, payment processing, customer service, verification, and unique inventory. He believes AI chatbots will be top-of-funnel traffic generators, similar to Google, and that traffic from chatbots converts at a higher rate. Airbnb's strategy is to become an AI-native company by leveraging external models and specializing them with its proprietary data and services, making it difficult to replicate.

“The vast majority of what is Airbnb is not the app that you see.”

asked by Richard Clarke · answered by Brian Chesky

What drove the moderation in APAC growth, and are services/experiences helping acquire new accommodation customers?

Ellie Mertz noted APAC growth was stable overall, with strong performance in focus markets like domestic Japan and India (50% growth in Q4). She confirmed that ~50% of experience bookings come from guests not attached to a homes booking, indicating a new segment for future conversion to accommodation guests and higher frequency usage.

“It provides a new segment of guests that we can, in the future, convert to home guests.”

asked by John Colantuoni · answered by Ellie Mertz

How are Reserve Now, Pay Later cancellations pacing, and how will AI search impact sponsored listings?

Ellie Mertz stated that Reserve Now, Pay Later cancellations are pacing close to expectations from testing, with a nominal aggregate increase of ~1% in cancellation rates. Brian Chesky explained that AI search will be the focus, and sponsored listings will be designed for that new form factor, with tests currently underway for conversational AI search.

“We're focused, first and foremost, on the most perishable opportunity, which is AI search.”

asked by Lee Horowitz · answered by Ellie Mertz

What are the key AI improvements expected in the next year, and how will AI investment impact gross margins?

Brian Chesky expects AI investment to not affect the P&L due to Airbnb's cost-efficient innovation model. In a year, he anticipates AI customer service handling significantly more tickets (voice and chat, multi-language), increased engineer productivity (80%+ using AI tools), and materially better guest/host experiences through AI search and listing tools.

“Our investment in AI will not affect the P&L. I don't think you'll see it in the P&L.”

asked by Brian Nowak · answered by Brian Chesky

Is Airbnb committed to rebuilding connectivity layers for hotels, and how does expanding inventory (hotels, experiences) balance uniqueness with TAM expansion?

Brian Chesky confirmed Airbnb is opening its inventory aperture, comparing it to Amazon's expansion beyond books. He stated that AI allows for personalization, enabling guests to see only homes, only hotels, or both, depending on their preferences and trip type. The hotel strategy focuses on boutique and independent hotels, which fit Airbnb's ethos and represent a huge TAM, while also strengthening the homes business.

“The more personalized we are, the more types of inventory we can offer.”

asked by Lloyd Walmsley · answered by Brian Chesky

What halo effect did the Paris Olympics have, and where will the $800 million incremental spend for 2026 go?

Brian Chesky highlighted that the Paris Olympics was massive for supply acquisition (40,000 listings added), policy reset (Airbnb as a solution), and brand experience. He expects the World Cup to be similarly impactful across three countries. Ellie Mertz clarified that incremental investment for 2026 will go into sales & marketing (programmatic and go-to-market efforts for supply acquisition across homes, experiences, services, hotels) and product development to accelerate innovation, all within stable EBITDA margins.

“The great thing about events in Airbnb is a lot of people have no intention of becoming a host... But an event comes to town and they want to make money 1 week and they list their place.”

asked by Stephen Ju · answered by Brian Chesky

Are repeat rates or customer service scores improving, and what's the outlook for U.S. room night growth?

Brian Chesky stated that guest satisfaction and repeat use are strong, driven by improved host quality (Guest Favorites now half of bookings) and best-in-class customer service, with NPS at its strongest since the pandemic. Ellie Mertz noted North America's growth accelerated in Q3 and Q4 2025 due to product changes and a stronger macro, and momentum continues into 2026, underpinning optimism.

“NPS... is the strongest it's been since the pandemic by far, and it's accelerating.”

asked by Justin Post · answered by Brian Chesky

When will hotels significantly impact revenue growth, and what's boosting Q1 take rate given decelerating bookings growth?

Ellie Mertz stated hotels are currently a single-digit percent of total nights booked but growing nearly double the platform's overall rate, expecting a meaningful contribution over time. For Q1, revenue acceleration is driven by a ~3% FX tailwind, earlier booking lead times from Q4, and a modestly higher implied take rate due to timing and Easter's shift (50 bps incremental revenue in Q1, 50 bps less in Q2).

“Hotels was a single-digit percent of total nights booked but growing nearly double that of the overall platform.”

asked by Mark Mahaney · answered by Ellie Mertz

What are the benefits of the new all-in commission structure for PMS-connected hosts, and will Airbnb move all hosts to it?

Ellie Mertz explained that the previous dual-fee structure was complicated and led to uncompetitive pricing for cross-listed properties. The migration of API-connected hosts to a single service fee resulted in many hosts not raising rates, modestly lowering effective ADR for guests, which improved affordability and elasticity, contributing to Q4 growth. Airbnb is piloting this migration for individual hosts in certain countries and sees it as foundational for dynamic pricing tools.

“The effective ADR to guests came down modestly, which obviously you can conclude is really great from an affordability perspective as well as elasticity and that is the reason that has been a driver or contributor to growth in Q4.”

asked by Kevin Kopelman · answered by Ellie Mertz