Airbnb just had their first earnings call since redesigning the app and launching two new businesses in May. The Airbnb management team believes these new offerings can grow into billion-dollar businesses and is backing that vision with over $200 million in investment.
Quick Q2 Numbers Update
Airbnb reported $3.1B in revenue (up 13% YoY), $642M in net income, and $1B in adjusted EBITDA. Growth was driven by higher bookings, travel demand, and platform improvements.
However, guidance points to slower expansion and lower margins in the second half of 2025, suggesting the growth surge is cooling. This caused an ~8% drop in the stock price following the earnings report.
‘Experiences’ and ‘Services’ Update
When discussing Experiences and Services in the Q2 earnings call, Airbnb management highlighted things like awareness, ratings, and applications, but avoided disclosing the two key metrics that would prove traction:
- Attach rate: The percentage of guests who book experiences or services in addition to booking their stay.
- Paid seats: The number of people who paid to participate in an experience or service.
Signals It’s Not Catching On (Yet)
- No attach-rate disclosure: When asked directly about the attach rate, CEO Brian Chesky said: “We don’t have any numbers to share.” If adoption were strong, the management team would parade it. They didn’t.
- They created a blended metric that can mask performance. The new metric, called “Nights and Seats Booked” combines lodging nights plus seats for services/experiences. That makes it harder to see if traditional stays or the new businesses are driving the growth. However, growth for this metric was +7% YoY, which is solid, but not the breakout you’d expect if services were surging ahead of core nights.
- Guidance admits low near-term revenue: $200M is being invested in 2025, but CFO Ellie Mertz explicitly said “we don't expect meaningful revenue from our new businesses in the near term.”
- Soft metrics over hard data: When discussing the success of the services/experiences launch, Airbnb management cited 13,000 press stories, 660M social impressions, 4.93/5 ratings, and 60k host applications. All great for PR, but not directly tied to paid demand.
- Local demand vs traveler demand: 40% of "Airbnb Originals" bookings came from locals, suggesting more "night-out in town" usage than high-value travel add-ons. Local demand is good for engagement, but it's not clear it will work as a scalable monetization driver tied to travel.
What Looks Promising:
It's still early, and any new business takes time to deliver results.
The 13,000 press stories, 660M social impressions, 4.93/5 ratings, and 60k host applications is very impressive. The trick is getting that initial buzz to convert to paid bookings. If Airbnb is successful, they will have two new businesses that will boost cross-selling opportunities across the platform.
Other Key Takeaways for Hosts & Property Managers
Host-Only fee is coming
Brian Chesky signaled more pricing changes ahead: "We're exploring different ways to present pricing, moving towards a host-only fee."
A host-only fee does not seem good for hosts, and something that we’ll have to monitor. Other recent Airbnb pricing changes include total price display, updated checkout/messaging, and new host tools with nightly price tips.
Booking lead times are back to normal
Mertz confirmed that booking lead times have returned to normal after being compressed 7% YoY in April. Lead times have now lengthened slightly compared to last year, which indicates higher guest booking confidence, and is a positive sign for hosts.
Loyalty program
Chesky confirmed plans for a loyalty program: "I absolutely think you should see something from us in the future. Not imminently, but in the future." He emphasized it wouldn't be a traditional points program but "something much more interesting and novel."
Forward-Looking indicators for hosts:
- Marketing shift: Airbnb will shift from TV ads to social-first campaigns which target inspiration-led travelers, benefiting listings with strong visuals or unique experiences.
- Mobile momentum: Mobile app bookings hit 59% of total nights booked, and is growing 17% YoY.
- AI integration: Chesky discussed Airbnb becoming an AI-first application, meaning hosts should focus on things that can position their listings to benefit from AI-driven discovery.
- Co-Host Network: Now supports 100k+ listings and has delivered 10M+ nights booked
- Quality crackdown continues: 500k+ low-quality listings removed since 2023.
Bottom Line
The summer services and experiences rollout has been well-marketed but low-impact (at least so far). And Airbnb has made one thing clear: they are not afraid to experiment with new growth initiatives. Some will benefit hosts, and others won't.
