Airbnb is moving forward on two fronts: offline, it's aiming to take on hotels by offering a wide range of services; online, it's leveraging AI along with members of its Airbnb community to help people discover travel options. In its latest fall product release, the company is bringing services to the app that it first introduced last year — including meal delivery, laundry, baby gear rental, and ski and boat rentals in select locations — while also broadening its grocery delivery offering. The other major addition is AI-powered search. The company has moved carefully with AI rollouts, with CEO Brian Chesky choosing to avoid a chatbot-style interface. Earlier in the year, he gave a preview of the new search feature for finding properties. Now, users can flip on a toggle to search for properties using text or voice prompts. Once a search begins, the interface displays dynamic filters tailored to your preferences. For example, typing "baby" into the AI search filter prompts Airbnb to surface additional filters such as cribs, playgrounds, or children's books and toys.

The platform is also tapping AI to highlight relevant features of a property, and it will allow you to compare properties in your wishlist through AI-powered summaries and reviews. "We are finally making our first foray into AI search. And what you see is just the very beginning of something. And over the coming months, we're going to really be iterating this very quickly. Anyone can vibe-code a search function, but to do something that doesn't kill conversion rate, that's the hard part."

The company is also putting more emphasis on social features that encourage people to take more trips and book extra experiences like food tastings and craft workshops. Last year, the app began letting users connect with fellow travelers and friends on its platform.

Now, travelers can view a map based on their connections' past or upcoming trips. Tapping on a trip reveals where your connection stayed and which experiences they pursued. For those concerned about privacy, there's an option to keep their trips from being shared with others. Airbnb is also creating neighborhood pages based on guest reviews and other sources to help travelers find places to eat and things to do.