Traffic from AI chatbots converts at a higher rate than traffic from Google, according to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. He shared this tidbit on the company’s Q4 2025 earnings call:
- “And what we see is that traffic that comes from chatbots convert at a higher rate than traffic that comes from Google,” Chesky said on Feb. 12.
Yes, but. He didn’t share specific conversion rates, and the company didn’t quantify chatbot traffic volume. But for Airbnb, early data suggests visitors arriving via AI chatbots may be further along in the booking process than those coming from traditional Google searches.
- Airbnb also didn’t specify which chatbots are driving traffic. Chesky referenced OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and others in broader remarks about model availability.
Why we care. AI assistants are emerging as a top-of-funnel discovery layer. The quality of that traffic may outperform clicks from traditional search and align with past claims by Google and Microsoft that AI will drive more qualified traffic at lower volume.
AI search ambitions. Chesky described chatbots as “very similar to search” and positioned them as top-of-funnel discovery engines.
- “I think these chatbot platforms are gonna be very similar to search. Gonna be really good top-of-funnel discoveries,” he said.
Rather than viewing them as disintermediators, Airbnb sees them as acquisition partners.
- “We think they are gonna be positive for Airbnb,” Chesky added.
Chesky described the long-term goal as building an “AI-native experience” where the app “does not just search for you. It knows you.”:
- “So AI search is live to a very small percent of traffic right now. We are doing a lot of experimentation. The way we do things with AI is much more rapid iteration, not big launches. And over time, we are gonna be experimenting with making AI search more conversational, integrating it into more than trip, and, eventually, we will be looking at sponsor listings as result of that. But we want to first nail AI search.”
AI inside Airbnb. Airbnb isn’t just benefiting from external AI platforms. It’s embedding AI into its operations.
- Its in-house AI customer service agent now resolves nearly one-third of North American support tickets without a human, according to Chesky. The tool is English-only for now but is slated for global, multilingual rollout, including voice support.
- Chesky said the goal is for AI to handle “significantly more than 30%” of tickets within a year.
- Airbnb is also testing AI-powered conversational search in its app. The feature is live for a small percentage of users and is being iterated quickly rather than launched as a major product release.
Sponsored listings on hold for now. Airbnb has long faced questions about launching sponsored listings. On the call, Chesky said traditional ad units may not translate directly into conversational AI environments. The company is prioritizing AI search before designing sponsored placements in that format.
Airbnb’s search shift. Airbnb began moving its budget to brand marketing just before the rise of generative AI and AI-powered search. Airbnb bet on broader marketing initiatives, slashing its search marketing spending.
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