- Airbnb reported profits after the market closed Thursday.
- CEO Brian Chesky pointed to several areas of growth for the company.
- He also teased a move beyond short-term rentals that Airbnb will take public in 2025.
Airbnb’s third-quarter earnings report showed that the company continues to grow — and that 2025 will be the year it launches a new company.
The short-term rental platform grew revenue and bookings during the quarter ended September 30, it said after the stock market closed on Thursday. Executives said they are aligning long-term growth with the co-host program and an expansion beyond lodging.
Here are the highlights from the earnings report:
Airbnb’s third-quarter revenue grew despite a slow start
Airbnb’s revenue for the quarter rose 10% to $3.73 billion. Analysts polled by Reuters expected revenue of $3.72 billion. Earnings per share of $2.13 beat analyst expectations of $2.14.
The number of nights and experiences booked rose 8% to 122.8 million from the same period in 2023. Bookings were sluggish early in the quarter but picked up later, CEO Brian Chesky said during Thursday’s earnings call.
Shares of Airbnb were down 4% at $141.55 in after-hours trading on Thursday.
Airbnb wants to get more people to offer accommodations using co-hosts
In October, Airbnb started offering its hosts co-hosts, or people who can help manage a property listed on Airbnb. The company launched its co-host network with about 10,000 people signed up for the role in 10 countries, Chesky said on the call.
The goal, as Chesky said, is to make hosting on Airbnb less burdensome — and attract more hosts and properties to the platform. While many people are interested in listing their properties on Airbnb, many don’t want to spend time managing the properties, the CEO said.
“So we asked ourselves, what if we could match people with homes who don’t have time with people who have extra time but don’t have a home?” Chesky said.
“Not only would this create more supply, I think this could generate millions of listings in the coming years,” Chesky added.
Airbnb has plans for an AI chat assistant that can cancel and rebook reservations for you
Airbnb is rolling out an AI chat agent that can answer basic questions, Chesky said on Thursday’s call. But the company sees opportunity for AI to do much more, he said.
Chesky said future versions of the chat agent will offer personalized options based on users’ bookings. The result: an AI assistant that can see your upcoming reservation and cancel or rebook it for you.
Ultimately, the AI assistant could handle most customer questions in place of traditional customer support agents, Chesky said.
“We believe that in the future the vast majority of our chats will be intercepted and handled directly by the AI agent,” Chesky said.
Airbnb plans to expand beyond short-term rentals next year
Airbnb said in its press release that it will form a new company next year, although the company did not provide many details Thursday.
“We will continue to focus on accelerating growth as we prepare for Airbnb’s next chapter, which will take us beyond accommodations,” the press release said. “You’ll see more about this next year.”
During the call, Chesky said Airbnb’s expansion would start “with the closest boundaries of travel” before moving “well beyond travel” over the next decade. He does not want to say what exactly Airbnb’s plans are.
Chesky compared the expansion to Amazon growing beyond its bookstore business in the late 1990s by adding CDs, DVDs and other consumer products.
“What I expect is that we will launch one to two new companies every year for the next several years that will incrementally generate a billion dollars or more in revenue per year,” he said.
Axel Springer, the parent company of Insider Inc., invests in Airbnb.