By Natalie Lung, Bloomberg
Airbnb Inc. shares rose by the most in 10 months after the company posted strong fourth-quarter bookings and issued an upbeat revenue outlook, citing strong travel demand and growing adoption of its new flexible payment and booking options.
Revenue for the quarter ending on March 31 will be $2.59 billion to $2.63 billion, the home-rental giant said in a shareholder letter on Thursday. Wall Street was expecting $2.54 billion. For the full year, the company projected revenue growth to accelerate to “at least low double digits” from the 10% it saw in 2025, in line with analysts’ estimates.
The shares jumped as much as 9.5% after markets opened in New York on Friday, their biggest intraday gain since April 2025. The stock had been down about 15% so far this year through Thursday’s close.
The guidance follows upbeat reports from US airlines last month, a sign that travel demand is holding steady despite heightened geopolitical tensions and severe winter weather across the US. That would bode well for Airbnb, which is attracting guests and new hosts to its platform ahead of major sporting events this year, including the Winter Olympic Games, which are currently underway, and the upcoming World Cup.
Airbnb last year introduced a Reserve Now, Pay Later option in the US that has proved popular among guests and helped boost bookings in the fourth quarter, it said. The key metric of “nights and seats booked” grew 9.8% in the fourth quarter to 121.9 million, far exceeding expectations.
The company plans to make the deferred payment option available to more guests globally in 2026. It also said more generous cancellation policies helped increase bookings in the holiday period and reduce customer service contacts.
Reservations in Airbnb’s new international markets drove most of its gains, the company said, as they grew at roughly twice the rate as more established regions. First-time bookers in India grew more than 60%, making it one of the fastest-growing countries for Airbnb alongside Brazil and Japan.
Investors looking for a wider profit margin may have to wait as the company continues to make investments meant to diversify its business.
For the fourth quarter, the margin for adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation and amortization was in line with analysts’ estimates. For 2026, Airbnb expects that figure to be “stable year-over-year” relative to the 35% adjusted Ebitda margin it reported in 2025, close to the 35.5% that Wall Street was projecting.
Earnings were 56 cents per share in the period ended Dec. 31, falling short of the 67 cents that analysts, on average, were expecting.
The company’s investments will be focused on supporting growth across the business, it said, “primarily in marketing, product, and technology.”
Last May, Airbnb relaunched its tours and experiences business and introduced a new a-la-carte services category, which more recently included a pilot program with Instacart for grocery-stocking. Airbnb is also testing a new airport pickup service, Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky told analysts on an earnings call on Thursday, without disclosing more details. And it began offering rooms at boutique hotels in New York, Los Angeles, Madrid and San Francisco — markets where vacation rental supply is constrained due to excess demand or regulation.
“The big idea here isn’t just building a bunch of standalone businesses. These are all part of a much larger vision,” Chesky said on the call. “We are one app and one brand where every part of the trip makes the other parts stronger. There are multiple entry points into Airbnb and multiple ways to drive more bookings.”
Airbnb plans to roll out more artificial intelligence features to accelerate those efforts, after tapping former Meta Platforms Inc. executive Ahmad Al-Dahle as its new chief technology officer. The company said it will expand the AI customer support agent globally later this year and pledged to improve the customer search experience. Early tests are focused on giving users more natural ways to describe what they’re looking for in a trip, and ask questions about listings and locations, Airbnb said.
(Updates with Friday share move starting in the first paragraph.)
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