Airbnb CFO talks new services & experiences features

Yahoo

14-05-2025

Travelers can now book massages, haircuts, and chef-prepared meals directly through Airbnb (ABNB). Airbnb CFO Ellie Mertz joins Asking for a Trend to explain the company's launch of bookable services and experiences aimed at driving future revenue growth.
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Airbnb has introduced a new feature that allows travelers to book services and experiences, such as getting a massage, a haircut, or a chef-prepared meal that could be added to a stay. For more, let's welcome in now, Ellie Mertz, Airbnb CFO. Ellie, it is good to see you. So, let's dig right into this news, Airbnb services. Ellie, walk us through what this means.
Yes, so, when you think about why people choose a particular type of accommodation, often they are looking for what kind of services are available with that accommodations. And usually, you know, they look for hotels for those services. And starting today, you can book those services through Airbnb. We're offering things like chefs, catering, private prepared meals, massages, photography, such that your trips are even more special.
And how, how does, how much would this cost me, Ellie? These haircuts and massages?
So, we're trying to make sure that we have not only extremely high quality offerings on the platform, but they're also at a variety of price points. So, in terms of the services that we are launching with today, approximately 50% of our service providers have an offering that starts under $50. It's really important that our products are accessible to a wide variety of guests.
And how do you pick the folks, Ellie, who are providing these services? How do you pick the hair stylists, the masseuse, the chef?
Yes, so we're making sure that we're vetting our service providers for quality. Obviously, we're verifying their identification. We're also reviewing their licenses, their certifications. What we want to make sure is that when you come to Airbnb to book a service, you can trust us that it's high quality, that we've vetted the service provider, and that you're very likely to have a really great experience and service with us.
So that was the, the, the services. You're also announcing today Airbnb experiences. Walk us through the details of that.
Yes, so today, in addition to services, we also launched a reimagined Airbnb experiences product. And the way to think about this offering is it's unforgettable experiences hosted by locals who know their city best. What we know about travel is that approximately 70% of guests look for destinations where there's particular experiences that they are looking to have. We know they're also looking for authenticity in those experiences as well as human connections. And so that's really imbued in terms of the product offering that we've, we've launched today.
If I was an Airbnb investor, Ellie, I might be thinking this sounds fun and exciting, and innovative and dynamic. I'd probably also be thinking, Ellie, when is it all gonna actually translate into material, meaningful revenue growth for the company? Do you think, is it 25, is it 26? What do you see ahead?
Well, so today is day one. We're really excited to open up these offerings, not just to our guests, but also to, you know, attract new hosts to both our service offering as well as experience offerings. So today is day zero. It will take time to grow. But the goal with these offerings is to deliver material, incremental revenue growth to the top line in the years to come.