Airbnb says traffic from AI chatbots converts better than Google

Visitors from AI chatbots converts at the next fee than site visitors from Google, in accordance with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. He shared this tidbit on the corporate’s This autumn 2025 earnings name:

• “And what we see is that site visitors that comes from chatbots convert at the next fee than site visitors that comes from Google,” Chesky stated on Feb. 12.

Sure, however. He didn’t share particular conversion charges, and the corporate didn’t quantify chatbot site visitors quantity. However for Airbnb, early information suggests guests arriving by way of AI chatbots could also be additional alongside within the reserving course of than these coming from conventional Google searches.

• Airbnb additionally didn’t specify which chatbots are driving site visitors. Chesky referenced OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and others in broader remarks about mannequin availability.

Why we care. AI assistants are rising as a top-of-funnel discovery layer. The standard of that site visitors could outperform clicks from conventional search and align with previous claims by Google and Microsoft that AI will drive extra certified site visitors at decrease quantity.

AI search ambitions. Chesky described chatbots as “similar to search” and positioned them as top-of-funnel discovery engines.

• “I believe these chatbot platforms are gonna be similar to search. Gonna be actually good top-of-funnel discoveries,” he stated.

Slightly than viewing them as disintermediators, Airbnb sees them as acquisition companions.

• “We predict they’re gonna be optimistic for Airbnb,” Chesky added.

Chesky described the long-term aim as constructing an “AI-native expertise” the place the app “doesn’t simply seek for you. It is aware of you.”:

• “So AI search is reside to a really small % of site visitors proper now. We’re doing lots of experimentation. The best way we do issues with AI is rather more speedy iteration, not large launches. And over time, we’re gonna be experimenting with making AI search extra conversational, integrating it into greater than journey, and, finally, we will likely be sponsor listings as results of that. However we wish to first nail AI search.”

AI inside Airbnb. Airbnb isn’t simply benefiting from exterior AI platforms. It’s embedding AI into its operations.

• Its in-house AI customer support agent now resolves almost one-third of North American assist tickets and not using a human, in accordance with Chesky. The instrument is English-only for now however is slated for world, multilingual rollout, together with voice assist.
• Chesky stated the aim is for AI to deal with “considerably greater than 30%” of tickets inside a yr.
• Airbnb can also be testing AI-powered conversational search in its app. The function is reside for a small proportion of customers and is being iterated shortly fairly than launched as a significant product launch.

Sponsored listings on maintain for now. Airbnb has lengthy confronted questions on launching sponsored listings. On the decision, Chesky stated conventional advert models could not translate straight into conversational AI environments. The corporate is prioritizing AI search earlier than designing sponsored placements in that format.

Airbnb’s search shift. Airbnb began moving its budget to brand marketing simply earlier than the rise of generative AI and AI-powered search. Airbnb guess on broader advertising initiatives, slashing its search advertising spending.