Despite Silicon Valley’s certification of AI fanatics, Airbnb (ABNB) is not eager to embrace this new technology, at least not the core business of travel planning for the entire company. “I don’t think this is ready yet,” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told analyst Brian Chesky on the company’s quarterly earnings call yesterday (February 13).
That doesn’t mean he’s not excited about the possibility of it. According to Chesky, the technology will one day profoundly change the tourism industry. But for now, Airbnb is taking steps toward baby AI by trying to impact customer service.
Later this year, Airbnb will launch AI-powered customer support, which can be supported in multiple languages and read through millions of contracts processed each year. Chesky said customer service AI brokers will eventually “graduate” by expanding to Airbnb’s search and becoming a “travel and life concierge”.
Chesky said AI has also been used by Airbnb engineers, and Chesky said it has led to a smaller “productivity increase.” However, the main reward has not been received. “I don’t think this is going toward a fundamentally gradual change in productivity,” Chesky said, adding that the technology could increase productivity by about 30% in a few years.
The hesitation about AI does not seem to hurt Airbnb’s business. In the October-December quarter, Airbnb’s revenue rose 12% year-on-year to $2.5 billion, while profits soared 24% to $461 million. Both figures beat Wall Street expectations and brought Airbnb stock to nearly 15% today.
“Amazon” for travel
Yesterday, Airbnb also announced plans to invest up to $250 million in a brand new business opportunity in 2025, which will be unveiled in May. “This year, you’ll see the start of a new Airbnb,” Chesky told analysts. He added that the grand vision is to create an “Airbnb app” similar to Amazon (AMZN) that is “satisfied with it,” he added. The preferred location for all your travel and life needs”.
While the initial release will be more closely focused on Airbnb’s current travel, Chesky said he plans to remove pages of Amazon books by “staying away from our core.” Amazon began offering other media such as DVDs and CDs in the 1990s as online booksellers, eventually expanding to the entire retail space and digital entertainment. “We may follow this path,” Chesky said.
The CEO hopes the company’s new trajectory will bring more active users. Although 1.6 billion devices access Airbnb each year are currently available, users usually only have access to the platform once or twice a year – Chesky’s figure hopes to end up once or twice a week. “We are now ready for the next chapter to expand our core where Airbnb is just a place to stay,” he said.
