Airbnb Boosts Full-Year Forecast on Strong Demand as AI Bets Pay Off — Update

By Kelly Cloonan

Airbnb raised its forecast for the year, citing an expansion in global demand as it uses artificial intelligence to improve its platform.

The short-term-rental company said Thursday it now expects revenue to increase by at least a mid-teens rate this year, up from its prior projection for growth in the low- to mid-teens.

The updated guidance factors in strong demand on Airbnb's platform across all regions, the company said. In the latest quarter, year-over-year growth in nights booked accelerated in Airbnb's new markets as well as its largest core markets, including a ramp up from travelers from the U.S., France, the U.K. and Australia.

Airbnb said those trends show that efforts to improve its product--with the help of AI--are working. The company has been able to build and iterate faster with the technology, allowing it to ship more new features and improvements compared to a year ago.

In the second quarter, for example, Airbnb rolled out updates that allow guests to see more relevant recommendations on its home page and in search results, and redesigned its sign-up, login and checkout processes. Those changes have gotten more users to follow through on bookings, the company said.

Airbnb has also been introducing AI tools to help hosts improve their listings and increase their earnings potential, and is using AI to automate customer support.

"This faster pace of innovation is reshaping nearly every part of Airbnb and we believe it's one of the reasons we're outperforming our largest peers," the company said in a letter to shareholders.

Chief Executive Brian Chesky said the product improvements are part of Airbnb's efforts to rebuild itself from the ground up to become an AI-native company. Airbnb now has more world-class talent than ever before, he added.

"Said simply, AI is the best thing to ever happen to Airbnb," Chesky said during a call with analysts.

The stock gained 10%, to $167.25, in late trading Thursday. At market close, shares were up 12% year to date.

Airbnb's second-quarter profit was $816 million, or $1.37 a share, compared with $642 million, or $1.03 a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.26 a share.

Revenue rose 17%, to $3.61 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $3.58 billion.

Gross booking value was $27.2 billion, up 16% year over year. Analysts projected $26.45 billion.

For the current third quarter, Airbnb projects revenue will grow 15% to 17% to a range of $4.69 billion to $4.77 billion. Analysts expect $4.61 billion.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 06, 2026 19:13 ET (23:13 GMT)