- Airbnb reported earnings after the market closed on Thursday.
- CEO Brian Chesky noted multiple areas of growth for the company.
- He also teased a move beyond short-term rentals that Airbnb will go public in 2025.
Airbnb’s third-quarter earnings report showed that the company continues to grow — and that 2025 will be the year it enters a new business.
The short-term rental platform grew revenue and bookings during the quarter ended Sept. 30, it said after the stock market closed Thursday. Executives said they are aligning long-term growth with its co-hosting program and an expansion beyond accommodations.
Here are the highlights from the earnings report:
Airbnb’s third-quarter revenue rose despite a slow start
Airbnb’s revenue for the quarter rose 10% to $3.73 billion. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected revenue of $3.72 billion. Earnings per share of $2.13 missed analysts’ estimates of $2.14.
Nights and experiences booked rose 8% to 122.8 million from the same period in 2023. Bookings were slow at the start of the quarter but picked up later, CEO Brian Chesky said on Thursday’s earnings call.
Shares of Airbnb were 4% lower at $141.55 in after-hours trading on Thursday.
Airbnb wants to get more people to list properties using co-hosts
In October, Airbnb began offering its hosts co-hosts, or people who can help manage a property that’s 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, Chesky said, is to make hosting on Airbnb less of a burden — 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 the time managing the property, the CEO said.
“That’s why we asked ourselves, what if we could compare people with homes who don’t have time with people who have extra time but don’t have homes?” Chesky said.
“Not only would this unlock more feeds, I think in the next few years, this could unlock millions of listings,” Chesky added.
Airbnb has plans for an AI chat assistant that will be able to 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 opportunities for AI to do much more, he said.
Chesky said future versions of the chat agent will offer personalized options based on user reservations. The result: An AI assistant that can look up your next reservation and cancel or rebook it for you.
Eventually, the AI assistant could take care of most customer questions instead of traditional customer support agents, Chesky said.
“We think, in the future, the vast majority of our conversations will be intercepted and handled directly by the AI agent,” Chesky said.
Airbnb is planning to expand beyond short-term rentals next year
Airbnb said in its press release that it will enter a new business next year, although the company did not provide many details on Thursday.
“We will remain focused 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 of that next year.”
On the call, Chesky said Airbnb’s expansion would start “with the closest proximity around travel” before going “well beyond travel” over the next decade. He declined to say exactly what Airbnb’s plans are.
Chesky compared the expansion to Amazon growing beyond its bookselling business by adding CDs, DVDs and other consumer products in the late 1990s.
“What I expect is, every year now for the next few years, we will open one to two new businesses that will generate a billion dollars or more in incremental revenue annually,” he said.
Axel Springer, the parent company of Insider Inc., is an investor in Airbnb.