A few months ago, we mentioned Airbnb’s growing hotel ambitions after the company made several key hotel industry hires, including dedicated market managers focused on signing hotel inventory. We even have one here in Hawai’i. Now we’re getting a clearer picture of where this may be heading.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky recently described the traditional OTA model of separating hotels and vacation rentals into different tabs, or awkwardly mixing them in search results, as “pre-AI thinking.” Instead, Airbnb appears to be moving toward a more personalized approach where the platform decides what type of accommodation to show based on traveler behavior and booking history.
That’s a shift from Airbnb’s earlier hotel experiments, which often felt clunky and bolted onto a platform originally built for home sharing. This feels more well-thought-out and potentially more competitive for traditional OTAs. The company is already actively working with hotels on Oʻahu. And like most new OTA entrants, they have lower commission rates to prime the pump. But rest assured, this will not last long. 😉
