Airbnb, Inc. (ABNB)

Airbnb operates a global two-sided marketplace that connects hosts with guests seeking stays, experiences, and services. Founded in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests into their San Francisco home, the company now has over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2.5 billion guest arrivals. Its strategy centers on improving its service, bringing Airbnb to more parts of the world through a localized global markets approach, and expanding its offerings beyond travel accommodations. It makes money from fees on bookings, with revenue recognized when guests check in.

The platform offers homes, experiences, and services. Airbnb Services and redesigned experiences launched in May 2025. Hosts get tools for scheduling, merchandising, integrated payments, pricing, and reviews, along with a Co-Host Network that connects them with experienced hosts who help manage listings. Guests use the website and mobile app, which was redesigned in 2025 with unified search and booking across all offerings, AI-powered personalization, and social features. Guests have flexible payment options such as Pay Less Upfront and Reserve Now, Pay Later. Trust and safety features include reviews, risk scoring, secure payments, background checks in certain jurisdictions, and fraud prevention. AirCover for Hosts includes property damage protection of up to $3 million per stay and liability coverage of up to $1 million per occurrence. AirCover for guests provides support for serious booking issues. The company also owns brands such as HotelTonight.

Airbnb serves guests and hosts in over 220 countries and regions. Its business is seasonal. Nights and Seats Booked are highest in the first through third quarters and lowest in the fourth, with the third quarter the peak travel season in North America and EMEA. Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA have historically been highest in the third quarter and lowest in the first.

The company's technology platform uses a microservices architecture, which it substantially finished rebuilding in 2025. It supports payments in about 20 local payment methods, multilingual community support, analytics, and AI and machine learning for fraud detection and listing matching. Marketing combines brand marketing, communications, performance marketing, and partnerships, with relatively low reliance on paid channels. As of December 31, 2025, Airbnb had approximately 8,200 employees, most able to work remotely under a "Live and Work Anywhere" policy, and about 13,000 third-party workers handling most community support contacts. Competitors include online travel agencies such as Booking Holdings, Expedia Group, and Trip.com Group, search engines such as Google, hotel chains such as Marriott and Hilton, property management companies, experience platforms such as Viator, GetYourGuide, and Klook, and vertical service marketplaces. The business is subject to short-term rental regulations, such as New York City's 2023 rules, as well as payments, privacy, tax, and AI laws. It relies on patents, trademarks, and domain names to protect its intellectual property.