According to Zhitong Financial News, after the market closed on November 5, Eastern Time, Airbnb (ABNB.US) held an earnings call following the release of its third-quarter 2026 results. CEO Brian
Chesky announced at the meeting, "Airbnb is back in growth."
"mode" (Airbnb returns to growth mode), stating, "For a market platform of our scale, reigniting growth is extremely rare, but that's exactly what we're doing." The most discussed topics at the meeting were the drivers and sustainability of accelerated growth, and the company’s platform strategy in the AI era—Chesky announced that Airbnb’s in-house AI travel agent is scheduled to launch to guests in the first half of next year and will open the platform to external AI agents via the MCP protocol. He also emphasized that as Airbnb transitions into an AI-native company, "I believe the opportunities ahead are even greater."
In terms of performance, according to LSEG data (cited by CNBC), the company reported third-quarter revenue of $4.87 billion, a 19% year-over-year increase (16% at constant exchange rates), surpassing the market consensus of $4.75 billion and marking the fastest revenue growth in over three years; diluted EPS came in at $3.16, exceeding the market expectation of $2.85; net income reached $1.89 billion, up 38% year-over-year, with a net profit margin of 39%; adjusted EBITDA was $2.51 billion, up 22% year-over-year, with a margin of 52%. Gross Bookings Value (GBV) reached $27.7 billion, up 21% year-over-year; room nights and seat bookings totaled 155 million, up 16% year-over-year. The company forecast fourth-quarter revenue between $3.22 billion and $3.28 billion (16% to 18% year-over-year growth), above the market consensus of approximately $3.16 billion, and raised its full-year revenue growth guidance to high...
Teens, the full-year adjusted EBITDA margin guidance was raised to approximately 36%, and the company announced a new stock repurchase authorization of up to $12 billion. The earnings report was released after market close; on the same day, the stock closed the regular trading session down 3.5% at $170.13, but surged approximately 12% in after-hours trading to above $190, exceeding the implied volatility of about 7.5% priced by the options market.
Focus and Response: Growth Re-accelerates and AI Agent Strategy
The core focus of this meeting was on the source and sustainability of renewed growth acceleration. The earnings report showed that revenue, GBV, and nights booked all accelerated sequentially this quarter, with all five key markets—the U.S., France, the U.K., Canada, and Australia—experiencing accelerated growth. The post-market stock surge directly reflected market recognition of the "return to growth" narrative. Chesky attributed the acceleration to years of product and operational rebuilding: the company launched over 50 new products and features this quarter, nearly 70% more than a year ago, with AI significantly speeding up development. Another major topic in the Q&A session was the impact of AI agents on platform traffic; in response to concerns about competition from general-purpose agents, Chesky noted that traffic from such agents is minimal and bookings are "very low," representing a negligible share of the platform’s nearly 500,000 daily bookings, and he framed them as an opportunity akin to Google as a discovery channel. Overall market sentiment was positive, though some analysts cautioned that a single quarter of outperformance is insufficient to confirm the sustainability of the growth acceleration.
Growth has accelerated across the board, with all five core markets speeding up.
CFO Ellie
Mertz noted that GBV grew 21% year-over-year in the third quarter, accelerating by 5 percentage points compared to the second quarter; night and seat bookings increased 16% year-over-year, with "Reserve Now, Pay Later" (RNPL) contributing a net increase of 3 percentage points; ADR rose 4% (5% at constant exchange rates). Regionally, North America achieved low double-digit growth in nights, the fastest pace in four years; EMEA grew in the mid-teens; Latin America and Asia-Pacific both surpassed 20% growth, with all four regions accelerating compared to the second quarter. Growth accelerated across all five core markets (the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia); among expansion markets, Brazil grew over 30% and India over 60%. The growth rate of first-time bookers accelerated to 13%, the highest since early 2022.
AI Strategy: Building Our Own Travel Agency and "Post-Conversation Interface"
Chesky detailed three key advantages of building its own AI travel agent: first, the platform has nearly 20 years of market data and understands its own market best; second, it controls the booking process itself, including payments, changes, and customer support protection; third, it can offer a dedicated travel interface—through "generative UI" (generative
UI) Real-time composition of components such as maps, photos, comparisons, calendars, and itineraries, which he calls "post-chat".
interface" (post-conversation interface) and explicitly opposes the pure text-based chat-style general agent model. The product is planned to be launched to guests in the first half of next year. In terms of AI application implementation, the AI customer service assistant now supports over 50 languages, resolves approximately 40% of customer service inquiries without human intervention (compared to about one-third in Q2), has been expanded to voice customer service in the U.S., and has achieved a record-high customer service NPS; the average customer service cost per booking has decreased by more than 17% year-over-year.
Hotel and Local Services Expansion: Targeting a $900 Billion Market
Chesky said the hotel business began as a pilot in four cities and now includes thousands of boutique and independent hotels across more than 60 destinations, with hotel bookings accelerating again in the third quarter. He called the hotel market a $900 billion industry that will generate "multiple
billions of dollars in revenue," and admitted that Airbnb's early slogan was "Forget
hotels"—a stance that has now undergone a 180-degree shift. Approximately 35% of first-time hotel bookers return within a year to book accommodations on the platform. In September, the company hired Pepijn, a former core executive at Booking.com.
Rijvers assumes the role of Chief Business Officer
Officer), overseeing property and hotel operations as well as international expansion. In terms of services, car rental, launched in the summer, became one of the fastest-growing services, and in the third quarter, the company announced additional local services including food delivery, laundry, baby supplies, ski equipment rental, and boat rentals.
Pricing, RNPL, and Monetization Rate: A Reversal Is Coming in Q4
Mertz explained that the implied take rate for the third quarter was
The take rate was 17.6%, a slight year-over-year decline, primarily due to RNPL expansion increasing the GBV denominator and incentives and offsets from new businesses, partially offset by travel insurance and single-service fees; as the RNPL denominator effect subsides, the take rate is expected to rise slightly year-over-year in the fourth quarter. RNPL was launched in the U.S. one year ago, expanded globally to flexible and moderate cancellation policy listings earlier this year, and further extended in early Q3 to limited and strict cancellation policy listings, now covering over 40% of GBV. Q3 marked the peak of RNPL’s net impact on room-nights, with the net increase expected to decline sequentially in Q4; with this expansion, the platform’s cancellation rate rose to approximately 19% (up from about 16% last year). The company completed a simplification of service fees in October, transitioning nearly all listings to a single 15.5% service fee. Chesky added that pricing is one of the company’s strongest levers, and dynamic pricing can “lower prices by $10 and significantly boost occupancy,” while enabling hosts to earn more. Additionally, travel insurance revenue increased nearly 70% year-over-year and currently accounts for a low single-digit percentage of booking value.
Social graph, exclusive inventory, and loyalty program
Chesky revisited the golden age of social networks from 2004 to 2008, noting that the real social graph disappeared during the evolution of social media, and that Airbnb’s Travel Map, launched this past May, is rebuilding the social graph of the physical world—a component he called "one of the most underappreciated parts of the business"—with more social features set to launch next year. Regarding inventory, over 60% of listings on the platform are exclusive; he believes the proportion of exclusivity is less important than the absolute number. The company is also developing sponsored listings.
listings), but will be designed within the context of AI agents. Regarding the loyalty program, he said, "we are absolutely looking at a loyalty
"We are definitely researching a loyalty program," noting that Airbnb is the only major travel company without a loyalty program, putting it at a disadvantage, and that the more vertical categories involved, the more attractive the program becomes.
Return on Capital and Guidance: $12 Billion in Additional Buybacks
In the third quarter, the company repurchased $700 million in Class A shares, leaving $2.7 billion remaining under its authorization, and announced an additional share repurchase authorization of up to $12 billion. Free cash flow for the third quarter was $1.4 billion, with a trailing twelve-month total of $4.9 billion, representing a 35% FCF margin, impacted by working capital usage in RNPL and a $75 million capital expenditure for the new office building in New York. Guidance for the fourth quarter forecasts revenue of $3.22 billion to $3.28 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 16% to 18% (including approximately 2 percentage points of favorable foreign exchange); GBV growth in the mid-teens; and at least low double-digit growth in nights booked. Adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to decline year-over-year (partly due to marketing spend timing). The full-year 2026 revenue growth guidance has been raised from the prior quarter’s “at least mid-teens” to “high teens.”
Teens, the adjusted EBITDA margin guidance has been raised from at least 35.5% to approximately 36%. Mertz noted that the company is closely monitoring developments in Europe (particularly France) and the Middle East conflict, but the guidance does not assume any significant ongoing impact.
Complete meeting minutes
Andrew Slabin (Vice President of Investor Relations): Welcome to Airbnb's Q3 2026 earnings call. Joining us are Co-founder and CEO Brian
Chesky and CFO Ellie
Mertz. The shareholder letter has been published on the company’s investor relations website. Before we begin, please note that statements made during this meeting include forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements; non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed during the meeting, and reconciliations to GAAP measures are provided in the company’s earnings materials.
Brian Chesky (Co-founder and CEO): Airbnb is back in growth.
mode"). For a market platform of our scale, reigniting growth is extremely rare—but that’s exactly what we’re doing. Years ago, we began rebuilding our technology platform and operations using a unified roadmap (single
roadmap) and a focused small-team approach. Inspired by the early "Project
Inspired by the "Hawaii" project, hundreds of product improvements have collectively generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue; the pricing team’s efforts have also contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental revenue. In the third quarter, we launched over 50 new products and features—nearly 70% more than a year ago—with AI significantly accelerating our development pace.
Product: Neighborhood
After the launch of Pages (community pages), 75% of guests used the Airbnb map; the Paris pilot led to significant booking growth, with global coverage expanding to over 1,500 communities by year-end. On the social front, we expanded Connections and launched the new Travel Map.
(map). The landlord side launched a multi-listing calendar, and nearly one-quarter of eligible landlords joined in the first month.
Human Resources: Pepijn Rijvers joined in September as Chief Business Officer.
He was previously a core leader at Booking.com, where he managed all accommodation operations and its largest performance marketing team, and now oversees our property and hotel business as well as international expansion.
On the accommodation side: We began with a pilot in four cities and now have thousands of boutique and independent hotels across more than 60 destinations, with hotel bookings accelerating again in the third quarter. Approximately 35% of guests who book a hotel for the first time return within a year to book a stay with us. On the services front, car rentals launched this summer are among our fastest-growing offerings; in the third quarter, we also introduced local services including food delivery, laundry, baby supplies, ski equipment rentals, and boat rentals.
Partnerships: We are collaborating with Delta, Qantas, and TAP Air Portugal.
Portugal); in October, launched the largest partnership in company history—an exclusive collaboration with American Express, bringing over one million properties onto Amex
Travel. Thousands of bookings have already been made, nearly a quarter of which come from new users, with Luxe listings accounting for a higher share than the platform average.
AI: We’ve launched AI Search with natural language input, located at the top of the app and website, and it’s especially popular among Gen Z users—it can recommend, filter, summarize listings, and compare favorites. For landlords, we’ve introduced AI-generated 3D floor plans. Our AI customer service assistant supports over 50 languages and now resolves approximately 40% of customer inquiries without human intervention (up from about one-third last quarter). It has now been expanded to include voice support in the U.S., achieving a record-high customer service NPS.
Regarding our self-built AI travel agent: We believe there are three key advantages. First, we understand our own market best, with nearly 20 years of data. Second, we control the booking process itself, including payments, changes, and customer support protection. Third, we have a dedicated travel interface—through a "generative UI" (generative
UI) Real-time integration of components such as maps, photos, comparisons, calendars, and itineraries, representing a "post-chat interface".
interface, rather than a text-based chat system. We plan to launch this product to tenants in the first half of next year.
Ellie
Mertz (Chief Financial Officer): Q3 GBV reached $27.7 billion, up 21% year-over-year, accelerating by 5 percentage points compared to Q2; room nights and bookings totaled 155 million, up 16% year-over-year, with RNPL contributing a net increase of 3 percentage points; ADR increased 4% year-over-year (5% excluding foreign exchange effects). Revenue amounted to $4.87 billion, up 19% year-over-year (16% at constant exchange rates), marking the fastest growth in over three years.
Regionally, North America saw low double-digit growth in room nights, the fastest pace in four years, with improved inbound travel to the U.S.; EMEA grew in the mid-teens, with year-over-year acceleration across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy; Latin America and Asia-Pacific both posted growth rates exceeding 20%, with Brazil’s net room night growth continuing to surpass 30% and India growing by over 60%. Growth accelerated across all five core markets (the U.S., France, the UK, Canada, and Australia).
RNPL timeline: Launched in the U.S. one year ago, expanded in early January to flexible and moderate cancellation policy listings, and further extended in early Q3 to limited and strict cancellation policy listings. Currently, RNPL covers over 40% of GBV. As coverage expands, the platform’s cancellation rate has increased to approximately 19% (compared to about 16% in the same period last year). We completed the simplification of service fees in October, transitioning nearly all listings to a single 15.5% service fee, enhancing hosts’ pricing competitiveness and transparency.
The implied monetization rate for the third quarter was 17.6%, slightly down year-over-year, primarily due to RNPL expansion increasing the GBV denominator and incentives and offsets from new businesses, partially offset by travel insurance and single-service fees; the monetization rate for the fourth quarter is expected to rise slightly year-over-year, with single-service fees and travel insurance contributing to modest long-term growth.
Profitability: Net income of $1.9 billion, with a net margin of 39%, driven by a $135 million reduction in income tax provisions; the prior-year period included a $213 million deferred tax valuation allowance. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.5 billion, up 22% year-over-year, with a margin of 52% (50% in the prior-year period). Regarding free cash flow, Q3 free cash flow was $1.4 billion, with $4.9 billion generated over the past 12 months, resulting in a FCF margin of 35%, impacted by working capital usage from RNPL and a $75 million capital expenditure for the new office building in New York.
On capital returns: This quarter, the company repurchased $700 million in Class A shares, leaving $2.7 billion in remaining authorization; the company has approved a new share repurchase authorization of up to $12 billion.
User and efficiency metrics: First-time booking user growth accelerated to 13%, the highest since early 2022; in-app nights booked increased 29% year-over-year, accounting for 66% of total nights booked. AI customer service resolved approximately 40% of inquiries, reducing per-booking customer service costs by over 17% year-over-year. Travel insurance revenue grew nearly 70% year-over-year.
Guidance: Q4 revenue is expected to be between $3.22 billion and $3.28 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 16% to 18%, including approximately 2 percentage points of favorable currency impact; GBV growth in the mid-teens; at least low double-digit growth in room nights; adjusted EBITDA margin slightly lower than the same period last year, partly due to the timing of marketing spend. Full-year 2026 revenue growth guidance has been raised to the high teens.
Teens (previous guidance was at least mid-teens), adjusted EBITDA margin guidance is approximately 36% (previous quarter was at least 35.5%). We are closely monitoring the situation in Europe (particularly France) and the Middle East conflict, but the guidance does not assume any significant ongoing impact; global underlying travel demand remains healthy.
Q&A Session
Richard Clark (Bernstein Research): Could you discuss the progress on dynamic pricing and the outlook for the monetization rate in the fourth quarter?
Brian Chesky: Pricing is one of our biggest levers. In Pepijn’s words: "If you think reserve now, pay later is
big, wait until you see what we can do with
Pricing ("If you think Buy Now, Pay Later has significant scale, just wait and see what we can do with pricing"). Customers care about two things equally: product and price, each accounting for 50%. Dynamic pricing can simultaneously lower prices and increase earnings for hosts—for example, reducing the price by $10 can significantly boost occupancy rates. Adoption has been strong, though specific data is not yet disclosed; AI is exceptionally good at optimizing pricing, and results will become evident over the next few quarters.
Ellie Mertz: The RNPL in the third quarter increased the GBV denominator and lowered the monetization rate; this effect will reverse in the fourth quarter. Single-service fees and travel insurance will gradually contribute to a modest long-term increase.
Lloyd Walmsley (Mizuho Research): How large can the hotel business become? Additionally, how can AI agents "step outside" the walls of Airbnb?
Brian Chesky: Hotel growth has significantly outpaced the overall platform. The hotel market is a $900 billion industry and will generate multiple billions of dollars for us over the coming years.
dollars" in revenue. We don’t need to win the entire market—just get hotel guests to book on Airbnb. Our early slogan was "Forget
hotels" — now a complete 180-degree shift in attitude. The hotel industry welcomes Airbnb—we have Gen Z, luxury, and global audiences. We will execute performance marketing with high efficiency. Regarding agent openness: We will leverage MCP (Model
Context
Protocol) will extend beyond Airbnb’s walls, integrating multiple MCPs in the first half of next year. We are not building a general-purpose agent—general interfaces can only be full-text, whereas domain-specific agents can generate customized UIs, such as a car rental interface. This is the "post-chat interface."
interface).
Ken Gawrelski (Wells Fargo Research): How do you view the debate between vertical agents and general agents? What is the impact of RNPL expansion on cancellation rates?
Brian
Chesky: We will integrate with a large number of suppliers, with MCP and APIs at every stage of travel, with the ultimate goal of enabling native booking for all travel verticals within the app—though no timeline is currently set. Car rentals are currently facilitated through the "Trawler" partner via a link-off method and will gradually be natively integrated. I don’t believe a scenario will emerge where “a single chatbot dominates everything like Google”—operating systems won’t allow it, such as Apple. General-purpose agents are suitable for simple, everyday tasks, but specialized agents will outperform them in complex tasks; we connect to Gmail and Google via MCP.
Calendar and others can obtain the same data. Our standard is: it must be 2x, 3x, or 5x better, not just 20%.
Ellie Mertz: The expansion pace of RNPL is as previously stated; Q3 represents the peak net impact of RNPL on room nights, with the net increase in Q4 expected to decline sequentially.
Justin Post (Bank of America Research): What is the exclusive inventory strategy? How much room is there for further insurance penetration?
Brian
Chesky: Over 60% of our inventory is exclusive to Airbnb. But our philosophy is that the percentage of exclusivity doesn’t matter—it’s the absolute number that counts. For example, in two stores, if one has 10% more exclusive items, the increase in traffic could exceed 10%. We aim to have exclusives in every category—massage therapists, chefs, photographers, exclusive experiences—while also becoming a one-stop shop for large-volume offerings like hotels and car rentals.
Ellie Mertz: Travel insurance currently accounts for a low single-digit percentage of bookings, up significantly year-over-year, with strong profit margins. We are considering launching additional insurance products for guests and hosts.
Benjamin Black (Deutsche Bank Research): What is the long-term vision for social discovery? How are sponsored listing ads being considered? Has there been any progress on the loyalty program?
Brian
Chesky: 2004 to 2008 was the golden age of social networks, which later evolved into social media, causing the real-world social graph to disappear. This May, Airbnb launched Travel Maps, rebuilding the real-world social graph—your travel companions and people you meet on the road. I believe this is one of the most undervalued aspects of the business, and we’ll introduce more social features next year. Social connections serve as a proxy for trust and will be integrated into search results; they will make group travel more collaborative, recommendations easier, and the platform more sticky. Gen Z is our fastest-growing customer segment, and they have two key needs: saving money (due to cost of living, student loans, and AI displacing entry-level jobs) and social connection; the same holds true for the “empty nest” demographic on the other end. Regarding sponsored listings: We’re developing them, but will design them within the context of AI agents—launching the agents first, then determining the advertising model. Regarding loyalty programs: "we
are absolutely looking at a loyalty
We are definitely researching a loyalty program. Apple doesn’t have a loyalty program, but its products are beloved; however, Airbnb is the only major travel company without a loyalty program, putting us at a disadvantage—the more vertical categories we have, the more attractive a loyalty program becomes.
Jed Kelly (Oppenheimer Research): How do you view the balance between growth and profitability?
Ellie
Mertz: Over the past two years, we have prioritized growth. We’ve proven we can deliver growth while still having the capacity to reinvest. We are planning for 2027, and sustaining growth momentum remains our top priority. This business is extremely profitable.
profitable," with strong cash flow and ample room for investment.
Matthew Cost (Morgan Stanley Research): What is the user composition for hotel bookings? Will external AI agents divert platform traffic?
Brian
Chesky: Traffic from general-purpose agents like Instinct is minimal, with bookings described as "very few." Of our nearly 500,000 daily bookings, traffic from external agents is negligible. After peaking in early October, related traffic has remained stable over the past four weeks. We view this as an opportunity rather than a threat—it functions as a discovery channel similar to Google. Think of it in terms of “single-product” versus “experience-based” retailers: Airbnb is an experience-based, end-to-end retailer. On our platform, 90% of guests reach out directly to hosts; hosts want to connect with guests, not agents. Our interface is highly visual—each listing averages 25 photos; it’s collaborative; travel itself is an aspirational experience—80% of travelers enjoy researching their trips, and most traffic occurs during work hours—people are “stealthily using Airbnb.”
Ellie Mertz: The ratio of new to returning users in hotel bookings aligns with the platform’s overall distribution. Hotels have unlocked new usage scenarios for returning users and provided new users with an entry point through familiar categories.
Closing remarks
Brian Chesky: Airbnb is back in growth mode and will stay that way.
to stay"). As we build Airbnb to become an AI-native company, I believe the opportunities ahead are even greater.
AI-native company, I actually think the opportunity ahead of us is even
bigger"). Finally, thank the team—it's all about the
people"), the team's execution is the core reason for growth; they're really starting to get into
flow"). We are just getting started back in growth mode.