【AI前沿】Airbnb gets into hotels, expands AI for host onboarding and customer support

Airbnb’s core business was letting users book a room or a whole property owned by someone else. In most cases, the host would be a house or a property owner, and you would get a stay with basic services such as a bed, a bath, and a kitchen. The company is now introducing hotels to its platform to drive new revenue and offer more options for travelers to book stays.The company has been testing outhotel listings for a few monthsand is officially adding a filter to search for them in its app. Initially, the travel tech company is partnering with boutique hotels in 20 cities, including New York, Paris, London, Madrid, Rome, and Singapore.Image Credits:AirbnbUsers will see a pop-up to look at hotels if they are searching for a stay for one or two nights in a city. They can also choose to see only hotels by applying a particular filter in the search. Airbnb said that it is offering a price match guarantee and would refund the difference in app credits if you find the listing at a lower rate somewhere else.“There are a few examples of the types of trips for which a hotel is probably better suited, such as last-minute bookings, one-night stays, and business trips. What we’ve done in the Airbnb app is that when we can see you’re searching for that kind of stay, we can recommend hotels without sending you to another part of the app or tapping on another tab,” Jud Coplan, VP of marketing at Airbnb, told TechCrunch on a 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 barred. That regulatory workaround is no small thing: it effectively expands Airbnb’s addressable market into cities that had legislated it out — some of the most valuable travel markets in the world.Property booking is just one part of the equation now for Airbnb. The company also wants users tobook experiences and services, which were launched last year, during their trip as well. In the last few months, the company has launchedgrocery delivery to propertiesandairport pickup services. With its summer launch, Airbnb is adding luggage storage in over 15,000 locations. Plus, it will launch car rental services this summer.The moves reflects a broader convergence happening across travel tech: Uber, long a ride-hailing company, has beenexpanding into hotel and trip booking, while Airbnb is now effectively entering the transportation business. Both companies appear to be pursuing the same destination — a single app that owns the traveler’s entire journey.Image Credits:AirbnbWithin experiences, the company is adding visits with local guides for 3,000 landmarks. It is also adding more than 2,500 food experiences in the mix. With these offerings, Airbnb will try to compete better with Viator or GetYourGuide.Airbnb is redesigning the app to accommodate all the different parts, such as 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 particular offering, too.While the company is not launching any official loyalty program, it will start offering Airbnb credits for the first car rental booking or up to 15% credit on hotel bookings. Having these credits might nudge people to use the app more, potentially testing the waters for a long-term loyalty program.But, where is AI?Severaltravelcompanieshaveadded AI-powered itinerary builders or trip-planning tools. Airbnb has stayed away from this trend. In its latest earnings call, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said that a chatbot as an interface is not suited for travel.“I think that the way in which we think about AI is how it can be used to help people find what they’re looking for more effectively and efficiently. And you see with this release that we have AI spread across a number of features across the app on the guest side and the host side,” Coplan said.The company is using AI in some other tools. With this release, it will let hosts add their address and let AI fill in details for easy listing creation. On the customer side, it is introducing category tags such as location, amenities, and family-friendliness that let you skim through reviews related to the tag.Image Credits:AirbnbThe company is also adding a tool that compares properties in your wishlist and shows AI-generated summaries to give you information about which property you can pick.The biggest area Airbnb is applying AI to is customer service. It rolled out the AI bot tothe U.S. last yearand is now eyeing global expansion with support for 11 languages. Chesky said during the Q1 2026 call thatthe chatbot handles 40% of its queries. The updated support will also have interactive cards, such as a way to update your trip or solve other issues.Image Credits:AirbnbAirbnb said that later this year, it will start using a voice-based AI assistant that users can talk to on a call. It said that it is working with multiple partners for this product, but didn’t specify any name