Rebuilding as an AI-Native Company

The Decision Brief Brian Chesky, Co-Founder & CEO, Airbnb Moderated by Rafat Ali, CEO/Founder, Skift THE VERDICT Many travel companies are deciding whether to layer AI onto their existing business or rebuild around it. Chesky chose to rebuild. He said AI is “literally the best thing to ever happen to Airbnb” for accelerating growth and gaining share from OTAs and hotels. He called AI “an existential risk to Airbnb” and said that framing is exactly what makes it the growth engine. “It also means it’s an existential risk to everyone else. If it’s a risk to everyone else, it’s also an opportunity for us.” PATHS FORWARD Change the culture before you change the product. Chesky said Airbnb shipped over 600 features this year, nearly twice last year’s pace. He said nearly half of customer service tickets are now handled by AI in 50 languages. Travel companies measuring AI adoption solely by spend or token usage are tracking the wrong metric. Follow the guest. Chesky said he spent years ideologically against hotels — “our first tagline was forget hotels.” He reversed course when researchers showed the majority of Airbnb guests also book hotels. He said 35% of people who come to Airbnb to book a hotel end up booking a home on their next visit. He said Airbnb can build “a multi-billion dollar revenue hotel business” starting with independents underserved by OTAs. Every ideology that limits your addressable market is a ceiling you chose. Build the interface AI commerce actually needs. Chesky said the chatbot isn’t the right interface because travel is visual, emotional, and social. He said Airbnb will launch its own agent next year with a richer interface than any current text-based tool. Agent platforms need “a software developer kit” with robust visual tools to convert at scale — and most don’t have one yet. WHAT TO WATCH Chesky said Airbnb would eventually welcome chain hotels, including Marriott and Hilton, and that AI-powered personalization means guests who don’t want to see chains never will. How fast Airbnb scales its hotel supply — and whether independents’ enthusiasm holds once chains arrive — will reshape competitive dynamics across the industry. Chesky said there is “a giant divide between Silicon Valley and society” on AI, and that without a bridge, the backlash will be severe. He said the immediate threats are cybersecurity and white-collar job displacement, with robotics affecting physical jobs within three years. Travel companies planning AI strategies without accounting for the public and political reaction are missing the context that will shape what’s permissible. Access all the Skift Takeaways from this event, as well as full session videos, presentation documents, and more editorial coverage at our Skift Global Forum attendees hub.