Skift Take
Airbnb is finally taking a big, expensive swing into the experiences category with its launch of "Icons." The non-traditional accommodations come with a non-traditional business model – they’ll be free or low-cost to guests (but they want you to post them to your socials). And Chesky promises things will only get “crazier.”
Airbnb’s Brian Chesky has entered his next innovation era. He sat down with Skift this week at a product event in Los Angeles for a wide ranging interview on AI, loyalty programs, Airbnb for corporate travelers and his billion-dollar pay package. We also talked about the company’s launch of almost a dozen immersive, experience-based homes that they’re calling ‘Icons.’
The Icons build off the overwhelming success of the Barbie house last year – which Chesky notes got hundreds of millions of impressions on social media and over twice as much attention as the company’s blockbuster IPO.
These houses won’t be a classic revenue generator for Airbnb. They’ll either be free or low cost to guests – and are meant to act as an alternative to advertising.
More importantly, Chesky calls them a “gateway” into the experiences category, something Airbnb has been trying to break into for some time. He stressed Icons isn’t a traditional business, but “more like a really cool thing we're doing, but it's a stepping stone to where we're taking Airbnb.”
The Up House, Airbnb Icons
Chesky also opened up about overpromising to Skift last year on the timing of Airbnb’s AI revolution. The possibility of a paid Airbnb loyalty program with an Amazon Prime-like membership structure. The tension between Guest Favorites vs. Super Hosts. And what he is doing with his potential multi-billion dollar pay package.
A partial transcript of the interview is below. It has been edited for clarity.
Kopit: You said last May that in a year’s time we would see a whole new Airbnb – and AI would be at the center of it. ‘Icons’ obviously isn't AI driven. It's almost completely the opposite. It's very front-of-house. So have you changed your thinking there?
Chesky: No, no. We’re going pretty deep on AI. I think we made a really important acquisition with GamePlanner. We have the founder of [Apple’s] Siri on the team. We're bringing on board great talent.
The basic idea is, eventually, we think the app is going to feel more and more like a concierge, that's going to get to know you, learn about you. We're starting with customer service. I think that's the best place to start. So we're working on AI-powered customer service that will augment the agents or take some tickets off their hands. So it's going well but yeah, we're not rea