But that admission came with a very important emphasis: Airbnb is getting into the hotel game — or at least the boutique hotel game. The ability to book hotels on the platform is just one of many forthcoming features designed to turn Airbnb into a trip-planning multi-tool rather than just a home-booking website, Chesky said during the event.
In 2025, Airbnb launched original experiences, allowing people to find unique tours and in-depth experiences bookable only through Airbnb. “That was successful as a rebrand — the idea that Airbnb is about more than just a home,” he said during a journalist roundtable attended by Matador Network. “Now, we want to add more features for convenience.” Airbnb’s goal, he stated, is to make it easier for people to make travel memories, especially by streamlining the reservation process and freeing up more time for enjoying the destination.
Airbnb is also making a compelling push to convince users to book hotels on the app, adding a price-match guarantee. Until further notice, if travelers find a lower price on a hotel anywhere online, Airbnb will refund the difference in Airbnb credit. Until December 31, 2026, users who book hotels via the app will also get a credit of up to 15 percent back for use on any future Airbnb bookings. Airbnb confirmed to Matador Network that users in more than 20 major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, and Singapore will receive a guaranteed 15 percent back, while the percentage may be lower in smaller cities with (presumably) lower room rates.
“I did not want to do this 10 years ago,” Chesky says, of offering hotels on Airbnb. “Our first tagline was ‘forget hotels.'” But he soon realized, he says, that the goal of Airbnb to offer local and authentic experiences wasn’t incompatible with all hotels, but only with the homogeny of chain hotels. “I don’t stay in a lot of hotels, and I guess I was a little ignorant about boutique hotels. I didn’t understand how cool some of them were.”
Hotel booking is currently available in more than 50 cities around the world, with plans to rapidly add more. While it’s not widely publicized, Airbnb also owns Hotel Tonight, a last-minute hotel-booking website, which it acquired in 2019.
Keeping Airbnb relevant in a time of economic uncertainty
Chesky stated that his goal with expanding Airbnb is to both make travel planning fun again, and to turn Airbnb into more of a collaborative tool. However, Airbnb is a publicly traded, for-profit company, and the move is almost certainly an attempt to capture a larger market share: specifically, those who prefer hotels to Airbnbs. With features like personalized travel maps that allow users to see where their friends have been and what rentals and experiences they’ve book.
by Suzie Dundas
