AI agents can, in theory, book your vacation for you, but that doesn’t mean it’s happening much yet.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says he’s not worried about AI agents like Meta’s Muse or Instinct AI taking traffic, citing a low number of agent bookings so far.
“We’re not seeing a lot of traffic, and even fewer bookings, from Muse and Instinct yet,” Chesky said on Airbnb’s third quarter earnings call Thursday.
Of the nearly half a million Airbnb bookings each day, a “very non-material” number are coming from Muse or Instinct, the CEO said. He added that traffic from agents peaked in early October and had not increased since.
“My general philosophy on agents are, I’m generally excited about them. I don’t see them as a threat,” Chesky said. “I see them kind of like Google, as an opportunity for more people to discover Airbnb. I think they’ll be great handoff to us.”
Airbnb beat Wall Street estimates and reported a 19% year-over-year increase in revenue for the quarter. The company said it posted its fastest revenue growth in three years and was “back in growth mode.”
Personal assistant AI agents had a moment this summer when Instinct’s invite-only agent went viral in Silicon Valley around the same time Meta launched its own version called Muse. There have been some concerns that AI agents could be bad news for travel companies, many of which rely on direct bookings and customer loyalty.
Brian Chesky said general AI agents shouldn’t do everything
Chesky said he thinks general-purpose AI agents aren’t the best option for booking travel, and that people will increasingly turn to specialized agents rather than using a single agent to do everything.
That’s why, he said, Airbnb plans to begin rolling out its own AI agent in the first half of next year. The agent will be built specifically for travel, and aims to provide guests a custom experience.
“Today’s AI agents, like Muse and Instinct, are good at simple routine tasks like making a restaurant reservation or scheduling an appointment. But planning a trip is different,” he said. “Travel is aspirational. Discovering where to go and where to stay is part of the experience.”
Chesky said 80% of travelers report enjoying the time they spend planning trips, and that they want to look at photos, compare homes, and make decisions with their travel companions.
He said that’s clear in the way customers use Airbnb, adding that 90% of people message the host. He said users typically look at a dozen listings and often swipe through 25 photos per listing. Most of Airbnb’s traffic also comes during work hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., he said.
“These people are supposed to be working, and they’re not. We have evidence. People are actually secretly using Airbnb,” Chesky said. “Maybe they’re trying to escape their job. But the idea is that it’s highly aspirational, so I don’t think a lot of people want to offload all that to an agent.”
Executives at Booking.com and Expedia also said on earnings calls this week that AI agents had so far resulted in very little traffic. DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said last week that third-party agents had generated “several hundred orders in total.”
