Most notably, Airbnb has made huge strides in its customer service by incorporating the technology of artificial intelligence (AI) into its operations. The company recently declared a major milestone, stating that one-third of its customer support in the U.S. and Canada is now driven by AI. This transition is intended to increase operational efficiency and improve customer responsiveness. Airbnb is projecting full-year revenue growth in the “low double digits.” This bullish picture comes after a very strong fourth quarter for the company, in which it earned $2.78 billion, beating expectations of $2.72 billion.
The tech company expects to bring in $2.59 billion to $2.63 billion in revenues this quarter. That forecast is above Wall Street’s consensus of $2.53 billion. Airbnb is leaning hard into the good vibes. The company has taken a strategic approach to investments in technology, evidenced by a significant investment in AI, which they see as critical for future growth.
Ahmad Al-Dahle, formerly of strategic AI power Saudi Aramco, has joined Airbnb to spearhead its endeavors in this domain. Al-Dahle has 16 years working for Apple under her belt. Most recently, he was the leader of the generative AI team at Meta, where they created the Llama models, so he’s joining the platform with a wealth of knowledge. His appointment is another indicator that Airbnb does indeed plan to use AI for more than just improving customer support. Beyond that, they want to improve the user experience all around.
The company’s goal is to build an app that accomplishes more than just basic search features. This latest app, with its promise to “get to know you,” would suggest recommendations and even interactions personalized to individual users’ preferences. Airbnb’s strategy is not limited to consumer-facing apps. It actively removes host applications, vast improvements of customer service, and includes protections such as insurance coverage and verified users.
Today, 80% of Airbnb’s engineers actively use AI tools as part of their workflows, and the company is aiming for 100% adoption in the near future. This change would feed directly into Airbnb’s dream of automating customer support. Within the next year, AI voice and AI chat systems should be able to manage more than 30% of overall customer support tickets in each language that human customer support agents operate.
Airbnb processes over $100 billion in payments through its platform, making efficient customer service solutions vital for maintaining user satisfaction and trust. Connecting AI into customer support will help you resolve customer questions and complaints faster. This automation frees up human agents to spend their time on the more complex and nuanced cases that deserve a human touch.
Sarah Perez, an experienced and noted reporter for TechCrunch, further explains how these developments have put Airbnb front-and-center as the leading technological innovators in the hospitality industry. You can email her at sarahp@techcrunch.com or contact her securely over Signal at sarahperez.01.