Airbnb gets into hotels, expands AI for host onboarding and customer support

Airbnb’s core business was letting users book a room or a whole property owned by someone else. In most cases, the host would be a house or a property owner, and you would get a stay with basic services such as a bed, a bath, and a kitchen. The company is now introducing hotels to its platform to drive new revenue and offer more options for travelers to book stays.

The company has been testing out hotel listings for a few months and is officially adding a filter to search for them in its app. Initially, the travel tech company is partnering with boutique hotels in 20 cities, including New York, Paris, London, Madrid, Rome, and Singapore.

Users will see a pop-up to look at hotels if they are searching for a stay for one or two nights in a city. They can also choose to see only hotels by applying a particular filter in the search. Airbnb said that it is offering a price match guarantee and would refund the difference in app credits if you find the listing at a lower rate somewhere else.