Airbnb CEO : reinventing the company with new range of services and AI
Airbnb’s growth engine has cooled, and CEO Brian Chesky isn’t hiding his frustration. Speaking at the Skift Global Forum in New York a couple of days ago, Chesky said the company’s revenue growth slowed from 40% in 2022 to 18% in 2023 and just 12% in 2024. For the quarter ending June 30, growth was 13%.
“I’m not happy about where the growth rate is,” he told the audience. “Airbnb should be growing significantly faster—at least in the teens—and I aspire to see it top 20% again.”
The current environment is less favorable to Airbnb business growth. Many cities and regions are enacting laws that limit how much a property owner can rent out short-term (nights per year). They also restrict where rentals are allowed (especially in historic or city-center districts), require licenses, safety changes, registration, and impose fines for non-compliance. The aim is largely to curb housing shortages, rising rents, and preserve residential amenity.
Airbnb needs consequently to adapt as it also feels -among other factors- the pinch of those restrictions. Chesky said the slowdown reflects a need to strengthen Airbnb’s foundation for long-term expansion. Earlier this year, the company underwent what he called a full rebuild to clear the way for new businesses. “The final stage is now we reinvent ourselves,” he explained.
Chesky eyes AI and new services to rekindle momentum
That reinvention is already underway. In May, Airbnb introduced a redesigned app with an array of bookable services. It includes massages, private chefs, personal trainers, spa treatments—as well as experiences hosted by locals, from comedy shows to boat tours.
Chesky believes these additions can evolve into “multi-billion-dollar businesses,” expanding on the company’s core vacation-rental market rather than replacing it. “We want to grow the core while layering on these services and experiences,” he said.
The company is also betting heavily on artificial intelligence. Since April, Airbnb has deployed AI to handle customer service, trimming human interactions by 15%. The system can cancel reservations, assist with travel planning, and is expected to gain more advanced skills, such as scanning reservations for specific details. Chesky has declared his goal of turning Airbnb into an “AI-first application” over the next few years.
Despite the recent slowdown, Chesky sounded optimistic about 2026 and beyond, recalling Airbnb’s early “rocket ship” trajectory after its 2008 founding. “We grew the company like a rocket ship,” he said, adding that he expects growth to accelerate again as new services and AI tools scale up.
Airbnb currently boasts a market capitalization of more than $76 billion and a network of over 5 million hosts worldwide.
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