Airbnb is evolving in two directions: On the ground, it wants to compete with hotels by providing a myriad of services; online, it is using AI and people in its Airbnb network to aid travel discovery.<\/p>\n
As part of its fall product update, the company is adding services to the app it had launched last year, such as meal delivery, laundry, baby gear rental, ski and boat rental in limited locations, and is expanding grocery delivery.<\/p>\n
The second big feature is AI search. The company has taken a cautious approach to rolling out AI features, with CEO Brian Chesky opting to stay away from a chatbot-like interface<\/a>. Earlier this year, he teased the new search feature for property discovery<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, users can switch on a toggle to search for properties via text or voice prompts. Once you start the search, the interface will show you dynamic filters based on your preferences. For instance, if you type \u201cbaby\u201d in the AI search filter, Airbnb will automatically show you further filters like cribs, playgrounds, or children\u2019s books and toys.<\/p>\n The platform is also using AI to bring out relevant features of a property, and will let you compare properties in your wishlist by way of AI-powered summaries and reviews.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are finally making our first foray into AI search. And what you see is just the very beginning of something. And over the coming months, we\u2019re going to really be iterating this very quickly. It\u2019s not hard to create AI search; it\u2019s hard to create AI search in e-commerce when you have $100 billion going through your platform,\u201d Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone can vibe-code a search function, but to do something that doesn\u2019t kill conversion rate, that\u2019s the hard part.\u201d<\/p>\n The company is also doubling down on social features that nudge people to take more trips and book additional experiences such as food tastings and craft workshops. Last year, the app started allowing users to connect with fellow travelers and friends<\/a> on its platform.<\/p>\n Now, travelers can look at a map based on their connections\u2019 past or upcoming trips. When you tap on a trip, you can see where your connection stayed, and which experiences they sought out. For those conscious about their privacy, there\u2019s an option to not to share their trips with others as well. <\/p>\n Airbnb is also building pages about neighborhood based on guest reviews and other sources to help travelers discover places to eat and things to do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/en-US-AIFeatures-AICompare.jpeg?w=680\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/en-US-SocialConnections-NeighborhoodMaps.jpeg?w=680\")