The news: Airbnb relaunched its Services and Experiences add-on and introduced an AI concierge that books personal chefs, massages, art tours, and museum walks in more than 100 cities. It’s the latest example of how AI is enhancing the consumer journey.

• The room rental company takes a 15% commission from services and 20% from experiences but displays a single price to users.
• The tools work even without a home reservation, marking the company’s biggest move beyond lodging.

The expansion into services and experiences puts Airbnb in direct competition with the likes of Booking, Tripadvisor, Yelp, and Viator.

Why it’s worth watching: Airbnb, whose service was accessed by 1.5 billion devices in 2024, will allow users to book experiences in 19 categories across 1,000 cities worldwide, while AI concierge, now available in the US, will roll out globally by year end.

Other new features:

• Airbnb Originals. These exclusive experiences will involve celebrity partnerships for lessons and tours.
• Social feed and tools. The update also unlocks group chats and messaging tied to specific trips and host tools for users.

Key stat: Airbnb is the leading US hotel/resort and home-sharing site/app with 21.8 million unique visitors visiting from desktop and mobile in February 2025, per Comscore.

A trove of marketing data: The company is aiming to control travelers’ end-to-end needs from a single interface. If successful, its AI concierge can extract quality data like first-party intent, location, and user preferences that can deepen audience targeting.

It’s also creating a self-sustaining content ecosystem of group chats and reviews that are ripe for ad placements.

Our take: Airbnb is leaning on AI to expand into a super app to boost its relevance as various cities around the world clamp down on short-term rentals.

By stacking lodging, commerce, and community into one AI-steered flow, Airbnb is building a walled garden for travelers who might opt to replace multiple services for a one-stop shop.