Airbnb closed out 2025 with $2.8 billion in Q4 revenue, up 12% from a year ago. For the full year, the company brought in $12.2 billion in revenue and $2.5 billion in net income. By almost every measure, it was another record year.
But for hosts, the headline numbers only tell part of the story. Airbnb is spending heavily on new business lines like Experiences and Services, but hasn't shared the data that would prove they're working. A fee restructuring quietly changed host economics. And hotels are growing fast on the platform. Here's what actually matters for hosts:
Experiences and Services
This is the third earnings call in a row where Airbnb has promoted its Experiences and Services expansion without sharing the numbers that would show whether it's actually working.
What they did share: the company says it has "onboarded significantly more hosts" across both categories in the second half of 2025, and about half of Experiences bookings were not attached to an overnight stay. They're rolling out city by city, with Paris leading for Experiences and Los Angeles for Services, plus new pilots like grocery delivery and airport pickups.
What they didn't share: attach rate and paid seats. Those are the two numbers that would tell you whether Services and Experiences are actually converting at scale. As we noted after Q2, when CEO Brian Chesky was asked directly about the attach rate, he said he had no numbers to share. Six months later, the response is about the same. CFO Ellie Mertz pointed to the fact that half of Experiences bookings come from guests who didn't book a stay as a sign that Airbnb is reaching new customers. That's a fair point, but it also sidesteps the question of whether these new offerings are generating real paid demand.
The most concrete Services development for hosts is still the Instacart kitchen-stocking pilot, which launched in January in Phoenix, Orlando, and Los Angeles. That program was Airbnb's first real attempt at paying hosts for services delivery. It's a small step, but it suggests Airbnb may be learning that if you want hosts to help deliver services, you need to pay them for it.
The pattern is the same one we've seen for three quarters now: applications, ratings, and social impressions all look strong. But Airbnb has invested roughly $250 million in these new businesses, and the company still hasn't shared attach rates or paid seats. If the numbers were there, you'd think they'd say so.
Hotels Are Catching On
Airbnb's hotel pilot is now live in New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, and San Francisco, with plans to expand to other key markets later this year. Mertz said hotels are still a single-digit percentage of total nights booked, but they're growing at nearly double the rate of the overall platform. In New York alone, Airbnb now has more than 100 hotels with over 20,000 rooms available.
Chesky compared the expansion to Amazon's early category growth, saying each new offering should be "strong enough to stand alone, but better together." The focus is on boutique and independent hotels, which Chesky said are a natural fit for the Airbnb brand and are drawn to the lower commissions Airbnb charges compared to traditional hotel OTAs.
For hosts, this is worth watching. Hotels are clearly gaining traction, and Airbnb has signaled it wants them to be a much bigger part of the business by the end of 2026.
AI Integration Update
Airbnb's custom AI agent for customer support is now live across the US, Canada, and Mexico in English, French, and Spanish. Chesky said it's resolving about 30% of North American tickets without needing a live agent, with resolution times "significantly faster." Global rollout is planned for later this year, with voice support also in the works.
On the product side, AI-powered search is live for a small percentage of users and still being tested. Chesky described it as conversational search that will evolve into full trip planning over time. The company also hired Ahmad Al-Dahle, who built Meta's Llama model, as its new CTO.
For hosts, the most relevant detail is that Airbnb plans to build AI-powered tools for pricing and listing optimization. That could help hosts stay competitive, but it also raises questions about how this will affect the third-party vendors that many hosts already rely on for dynamic pricing. If Airbnb builds competing tools into the platform, hosts will need to decide who they trust more with their pricing strategy.
Fee Structure Changes
The host-only fee migration launched in October for PMS-connected hosts and expanded to most non-PMS hosts by December. When the change was announced, we raised several concerns: that hosts who raised rates to offset the fee could lose visibility in search, and that the new structure would make it easier for Airbnb to raise commissions over time.
Mertz shared the first real data on how the transition played out. Many hosts didn't raise their rates, so the effective price guests saw came down slightly. Airbnb framed that as a win for affordability and conversion. Combined with Reserve Now, Pay Later and updated cancellation policies, the fee change contributed to an estimated 200 basis points of nights growth and 300 basis points of GBV growth in Q4.
Mertz also called it a "foundational move" that will allow Airbnb to be "more dynamic with our pricing tools as well as our fees." That second part is worth noting. When a platform describes a fee change as foundational for future fee flexibility, hosts should pay attention.
Reserve Now, Pay Later Goes Global
The $0-upfront booking feature saw over 70% adoption among eligible guests and is expanding to more markets and cross-border stays. Mertz said the aggregate cancellation rate increased only about 1% (from roughly 16% to 17%), which the company considers manageable given the booking lift.
The feature has also lengthened booking lead times and shifted the mix toward larger, higher-priced homes with four or more bedrooms. Q4 ADR was $168, up 6% year over year (3% excluding currency effects). For hosts with premium listings, that's a real tailwind.
Quality and Listing Growth
Airbnb ended 2025 with over 9 million active listings. Supply growth was roughly in line with nights booked at around 10% year over year, with the strongest growth in Latin America and Asia Pacific. The company has now removed over 550,000 low-quality listings since 2023, and Guest Favorites, Airbnb's quality-badged listings, grew 30% in 2025 and now account for roughly half of all bookings on the platform.
Looking Ahead
For Q1 2026, Airbnb guided revenue of $2.59 to $2.63 billion, implying 14-16% year-over-year growth (boosted by about 3 points of currency tailwinds). Full-year 2026 revenue growth is expected to accelerate to "at least low double digits," with EBITDA margins stable.
Bottom Line
Airbnb had a strong year. Record revenue, strong margins, and $4.6 billion in free cash flow. The company is making money and growing, and it's heading into 2026 with real momentum.
But for hosts, the more important question is where Airbnb is investing and whether those bets are delivering results that benefit you. Experiences and Services still can't show hard conversion data after three quarters. The fee restructuring was framed as a simplification, but the company itself describes it as a foundation for future fee changes. And Hotels are growing fast on the platform.
Hosts who are paying attention to these shifts will be best positioned to adapt as the platform continues to change around them.
.webp)
