Follow Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) without the noise. This hub gathers the latest news, product launches and policy changes around the home-sharing and travel platform, curated by 10 Minutes News. Essential reading on the platform reshaping accommodation.
-
Airbnb CEO on Hotels, Cars, and Flights: ‘I Had to Get Over My Ideology’
28 September 2026Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky didn’t address at length his changing views about Airbnb experiences, but there, too, he’s softened his old religion about them having to be unique, and has added mainstream tours and activities.
-
I love seeing the insights that come out of the Skift Global Forum. Sadly I couldn’t be in New York last week when it was on, but I’ve learned so much diving into what the leaders were saying since… | Jeremy Jauncey
28 September 2026I love seeing the insights that come out of the Skift Global Forum. Sadly I couldn’t be in New York last week when it was on, but I’ve learned so …
-
Facebook boss drives booking with face
27 September 2026This article was written by New Dog PR. Click here to read the original article Fans of community outreach are advised to gather ‘round in Munich next week, when EXPO Real will be allowing us the chance to persuade real estate folks that hotels are more profitable, more fun and more likely to change your life in a positive way than self storage. If you’re afraid of clutter then leave now, but for everyone else, it seems obvious that hotels…
-
Airbnb Plans to Launch Its Own AI Agent by 2027, Says CEO Brian Chesky at Skift Event
25 September 2026💻 Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, views AI as an existential risk but plans to launch an AI agent in 2027. At a Skift event, he emphasized a visual, comparative travel experience, not limited to chatbots. Two AI strategies exist: one where personal AI agents dominate discovery and booking, and one where platforms remain central. Companies like Expedia and OnSeason favor the first, while Booking.com leans towards the second. Airbnb’s approach may redefine industry dynamics by 2027.
-
Bret Taylor of OpenAI Predicts AI Agents Could Disrupt OTAs, While Uber Expands Travel Services at Skift Forum
25 September 2026📈 On September 20, 2023, at the Skift Global Forum in NYC, Bret Taylor, Chairman of OpenAI, suggested AI agents will dominate consumer interactions, potentially sidelining OTAs. Dara Khosrowshahi revealed Uber’s travel expansion, offering hotel services with Expedia and future plans for vacation rentals and flights. Uber compensates members with 10-20% discounts by running hotels at break-even. Glenn Fogel emphasized Booking’s consumer trust as a key advantage, even as AI gains ground in discovery and transactions.
-
Meta’s Muse Launches, Challenges Online Travel with 2.5M Downloads, Shaking Booking, Expedia, Airbnb Stocks
25 September 2026💻 Booking, Expedia, and Airbnb saw declines of 21%, 18%, and 18% respectively in a month due to Meta’s Muse launch on September 8, 2025. Muse hit 2.5M US downloads in two weeks. Agents like Muse and Instinct threaten OTAs by simplifying price comparison and booking. Booking’s 2025 GBV was $186B with $27B revenue. OTAs’ friction costs face pressure: $54B shifted from aggregators, $321B to Meta. Expedia and Booking’s marketing spend was 4-6% GBV, with Booking spending $8B. AI-assisted bookings…
-
The Future Is Here, Except It’s Still Pretty Slow.
25 September 2026This post was originally published on this site. This newsletter sits at the crossroads of hospitality and technology. You’re receiving it because you’re interested in one, the other, or both. Know someone else who might be? Please share it. I made my first restaurant reservation with Muse, Meta’s new and much-hyped personal AI agent. It asked what I felt like eating, found a place in the neighbourhood, and made the reservation by itself. It felt like living in the future,…
-
Booking Holdings Shares Drop 9% Due to AI Competition Concerns, Highlighted by Meta’s Muse Launch
25 September 2026📈 Shares of Booking Holdings fell 3.9% on September 22 and about 5% more the next day, due to Meta’s Muse AI agent, launched September 8, which compares prices and books travel. Booking.com relies on independent hotels and small rentals for 90% of revenue. Analysts argue AI will challenge OTAs by accessing member-only discounts, while Wall Street counters that signing these properties manually is difficult for AI. Booking Holdings was trading 29% below its August high by late September.
-
AI Revolutionizes Value in Technology by Prioritizing Data Over User Interfaces, Says Industry Expert Martin Soler
24 September 2026💻 Salesforce and Anthropic launched Claudeforce last month, utilizing AI to streamline access to Salesforce data. During the Spring Festival, Fliggy’s AI integration boosted orders by 800%. Bookboost discovered guests with over 10 stays generate 18 times more revenue. A sustainability project in Bangkok drew over 951,000 visitors in its first year. Recent hotel data shows a 3% drop in hours per occupied room while maintaining occupancy. Airbnb aims for multi-billion-dollar hotel business expansion.
-
Airbnb’s Q2 2026 Growth in Nights Booked Outpaces Booking with Major Hotel Platform Expansion
24 September 2026🏨 In 2026, Airbnb’s nights grew 2.6 times faster than Booking in Q2, reversing a trend from the last two years. This shift is driven by Airbnb’s strategic inclusion of hotels, a significant platform expansion. Although hotels currently represent a single-digit share of Airbnb’s nights, they are growing more than three times faster than the homes business. Approximately 35% of first-time hotel guests return to Airbnb to book homes, strengthening the marketplace.
-
Uber Offers 20% Hotel Discounts to Uber One Members by Returning Its Margin, Funded by Participating Hotels
23 September 2026💸 Sep 23, 2026, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announces at the Skift Global Forum in New York that Uber breaks even on hotel bookings, returning profits as benefits to Uber One members. Hotels offer 20% discounts via a rotating list of 10,000+ properties, with 10% in Uber credits. This strategy aims to boost $9.99 memberships. Similar offers from Revolut and Airbnb show hotels as promotional tools, leaving most savings for members rather than hotels.
-
Airbnb Expands Hotel Listings to 3,939 Properties, Aiming for Multi-Billion-Dollar Business Segment
21 September 2026🛌 Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced plans to grow hotels into a multi-billion-dollar business. As of September 4, Airbnb had 3,939 hotels listed. Despite this, hotels account for a single-digit percentage of nights booked in Q2. Airbnb’s core business is nearing $100 billion in gross booking value. Chesky highlighted their unique strategy: curating supply, taking a lower cut, and leveraging its vast audience of over 1.6 billion device accesses annually to boost hotel demand.
-
Gencom Acquires Three Major New York Hotels, Including Thompson Central Park for $380 Million, in 16 Months
21 September 2026🏠 Karim Alibhai’s Gencom, a Miami-based hotel investment firm, acquired three New York hotels within 16 months: the 587-room Thompson Central Park for $380 million in 2024, the 607-room InterContinental New York Times Square in 2025, and the 253-room Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park. In 2025, New York saw a 3.2% drop in international visitors to 12.5 million, expected to rebound to 12.9 million in 2026. Gencom also invested in New Orleans, Miami, and internationally.
-
Uber Expands Into Travel Sector With Hotel Bookings, Following CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s Multi-Service Strategy
20 September 2026📅 Dara Khosrowshahi, since 2005 at Expedia and now at Uber, has focused on expanding platforms beyond their core services. At Expedia, he broadened the online travel business to include hotels, flights, cars, and packages over a decade. Now at Uber, he is extending from rides to Eats, groceries, and travel services, including hotels, leveraging high-frequency consumer habits to integrate multiple services into one platform.
-
Propellic Report Reveals U.S. Travelers Primarily Use ChatGPT for AI-Driven Trip Planning by 2026
18 September 2026🛫 Propellic observed U.S. travelers using AI for planning, revealing a preference for ChatGPT. A report on AI visibility in the travel industry will be released on September 30, 2026. Only 7% of travelers are comfortable with AI agents managing bookings entirely, while 29% prefer AI to make selections. Notably, Dubai’s advertised 2026 hotel prices were 49.9% above 2025 but ended 21.6% lower. Vietnam’s prices rose by 36%, with Phu Quoc seeing a 153% increase.
-
Hospitable Launches Split Payments Feature for Vrbo and Direct Bookings, Streamlining Revenue Sharing for US Users
18 September 2026💵 Hospitable launched a new split payments capability for property managers, facilitating revenue sharing on Vrbo and direct bookings. Available since September 2026, this tool simplifies revenue division at check-in, eliminating manual processes. Previously, only Airbnb supported such payments. Split Payouts work through Hospitable’s Mogul plan with US bank accounts, expanding to the UK soon. CEO Pierre-Camille Hamana highlighted its efficiency for professional property managers using multiple distribution channels.
-
CollabsMap Connects Thousands of Travel Creators with Nearly 1,000 Brands, Solving Creator-to-Booking Gaps
17 September 2026📰 CollabsMap connects travel creators with businesses through an innovative marketplace model. Videreo’s journey revealed a broken creator-to-booking chain, where demand is created but not captured by creators, as highlighted in Rafat Ali’s Skift article. AI trends show 28% of US leisure travelers start planning with AI, but only 5% book as suggested. TSA’s AI agent saves over 11,660 staff hours and $11 million in labor value annually. GetYourGuide’s Creator Review increases booking likelihood threefold.
-
Hospitable becomes the first PMS to offer native Split Payouts between managers and owners
17 September 2026Property managers can now receive their share of each booking at the same time as their owners, from a single Vrbo or direct booking transaction, with no manual transfers or separate payment tools SAN FRANCISCO, 17 SEPTEMBER 2026 – Short-term rental operating system Hospitable today announced the launch of Split Payouts for Vrbo and direct bookings, allowing property managers to automatically split booking revenue between themselves and their owners from one single transaction. The release makes Hospitable the first property…
-
Robert A. Rauch Releases Book Offering Hotel Industry Insights and Strategies After 50+ Years in Hospitality
16 September 2026📖 Robert A. Rauch, known as “The Hotel Guru,” released a book titled “The Hotel Guru’s Journey: A Guide to Excellence in the Hotel Industry.” With over 50 years in hospitality, Rauch shares insights on leadership and success strategies in 20 chapters. Key topics include revenue management, AI, cybersecurity, and eco-friendly development. Rauch has managed hotel assets over $1 billion and has published Hospitality Innsights since 1984. The book is available on Amazon.
-
Only 11% of Hotels Have Fully Integrated Tech Stacks; 27% Use Over Seven Separate Platforms
14 September 2026📶 Only 11% of hotel operators have a fully integrated tech stack, while 27% use over seven separate platforms. Reliable two-way integrations across systems like PMS and CRS are crucial to prevent costly sync failures like overbookings. A proper channel manager setup, possible within 1-2 weeks, emphasizes two-way data flow, reliable API connections, and ongoing monitoring to enhance efficiency and revenue potential. RateGain’s UNO Channel Manager supports over 3,400 hotels, processing 2.3 billion updates annually, improving RevPAR by 2-7%.
-
Nôsa Bathrooms Reveals Key Design Trends from UK’s Top-Rated Airbnbs: 60% Feature Freestanding Baths
14 September 2026🛌 Nôsa bathrooms analyzed top-rated UK Airbnbs, revealing key design elements. 60% have freestanding baths, and 80% feature frameless glass showers, with 65% walk-in and 55% rainfall showers. 60% use floating vanities, 65% integrated sinks. Large-format tiles are in 95% of bathrooms, with 50% using stone-effect and 45% marble-effect. For lighting, 45% have vanity lighting, while 35% have wall sconces. These choices enhance guest experience, creating luxury and relaxation.
-
Airbnb Targets $1 Billion in Revenue from Sponsored Listings for Independent Hotels Seeking Lower Commissions
14 September 2026💰 Sep 8, 2026, at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference, Brian Chesky revealed that half of the world’s hotels are independent and pay higher commissions on Booking.com and Expedia compared to chains. Airbnb aims to attract these hotels with lower commissions and sponsored listings, targeting a billion-dollar opportunity. Nearly 90% of Airbnb visitors have a destination in mind, facilitating low commissions. Sponsored listings for hotels have been discussed since 2023 but remain unimplemented.
-
Airbnb and USHCC Study Finds Home Sharing Boosts Business Ownership and Financial Security for Latino Families
11 September 2026💸 The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Airbnb, reveals key insights from a national study on Latino entrepreneurship. Latino contributions to the U.S. GDP exceed $3.6 trillion. Hosting on Airbnb is seen as a pathway to business ownership and financial independence by 84% of Latino adults. Hosting income primarily addresses household expenses (62%) and aids financial security. 91% support fair taxes and safety standards for hosts, favoring balanced regulations to preserve economic opportunities.
-
Google Discontinues Vacation Rental Search in Europe, Citing DMA, Impacting Direct Bookings by Up to 30%
11 September 2026🛠️ Google has removed vacation rental search in Europe due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), affecting EEA travelers and European suppliers, who have lost up to 30% of free direct-booking clicks. The DMA prohibits Google from prioritizing its own services over others like Booking.com, HomeToGo, and Airbnb. This change favors intermediaries and complicates direct bookings. The shift emphasizes AI visibility over Google Ads. The dependence shifts towards Maps and integrations with PMS partners.
-
New UK Research Shows 42% of Gen Z Choose Travel Destinations Influenced by TikTok, Surpassing Google at 37%.
10 September 2026📅 New UK research reveals 42% of Gen Z use TikTok for travel inspiration, surpassing Google at 37% and Instagram at 33%. Additionally, 51% have used AI tools like ChatGPT for holiday planning, with 42% trusting AI for booking and restaurant advice. Platforms like Uber, Jet2holidays, and Airbnb remain popular. AI agents could reshape travel, with Stripe’s Link resolving payment issues. Are your systems ready to accommodate AI-driven transactions?
