Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) is a San Francisco-headquartered marketplace for short-term rentals, founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk. The company popularized the alternative accommodation category and has grown into one of the largest travel platforms in the world by gross bookings, with hosts in more than 100,000 cities.
Airbnb is a two-sided marketplace charging both guest service fees and host commissions on each booking. It does not own any property inventory itself, instead relying on a network of millions of individual hosts plus a growing share of professional property managers. Adjacent products include Airbnb Experiences, Airbnb for Work, and host services such as AirCover insurance.
Airbnb is the global leader in short-term rentals by brand recognition and supply diversity, with particular strength in unique and urban listings. Its main competitors are Vrbo (Expedia Group) in whole-home vacation rentals and Booking.com, which has rapidly expanded its alternative accommodation supply to challenge Airbnb's category lead.
Airbnb went public in December 2020 in one of the largest US IPOs of the year. The company faces ongoing regulatory scrutiny in many cities worldwide over short-term rental rules and housing impact. Recent product investments include Airbnb Categories, Guest Favorites, AI-powered search and a renewed focus on Experiences as a growth pillar.
Airbnb launches its first event-specific Host Earnings Calculator ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026, paired with a $750 new-host incentive, as tournament-period searches in host cities surge 80% year-over-year.
Airbnb has collected and remitted $17.3 billion in tourism taxes globally since 2014, including $2.7 billion in the US in 2025 alone, as the company steps up its lobbying for centralized tax collection legislation.
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