Airbnb is stepping beyond stays to make travel more personal. The company has introduced a wave of social and AI-powered updates designed to help users connect with fellow travelers, discover new stays, and find hidden gems nearby.
The new features expand Airbnb’s ongoing effort to make its app more interactive and community driven. Building on the success of Airbnb Experiences, the platform now makes it easier to meet other travelers participating in the same activity, from cooking classes to guided tours, and stay connected afterward.
When users book an experience, they can now see who else will be attending, including their first names and home countries. After the activity, travelers can reconnect through the Airbnb app to share photos or plan future adventures together. These new interactions are stored in a Connections tab on each user’s profile, making it simple to keep in touch or revisit past travel friendships.
Airbnb emphasized that privacy remains a top priority. Users can decide what personal details to share, such as their photo, name, or location, and can always block or report anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable. Connections can also be removed at any time with a single tap.
These social tools were first teased in Airbnb’s summer product release, which focused on encouraging community engagement and increasing bookings across both stays and experiences. However, with chat-based interactions now entering the mix, Airbnb will also need to tackle moderation challenges similar to those faced by other social platforms.
Airbnb’s winter release adds another layer of intelligence to trip planning. The redesigned search experience now highlights listings users might otherwise miss due to tight filters. For instance, travelers can scroll through three new “just-outside-your-filters” carousels, one showing places slightly above the budget, another showing homes missing a selected amenity (like a pool), and a third spotlighting nearby destinations that still fit your needs.
This update aims to make property discovery more intuitive, encouraging travelers to explore a wider range of stays that could still fit their travel style. The Maps view has also been revamped, allowing users to browse nearby landmarks, attractions, and restaurants directly within the app.
Airbnb’s broader AI rollout continues as well. Its AI-powered “host” assistant is now expanding beyond homes to help restaurants and service providers. The virtual host can take reservations, respond to questions, modify bookings, and manage special requests automatically. Meanwhile, Airbnb’s AI receptionist for local service businesses can capture project details, qualify leads, and send call summaries directly to a company’s inbox, streamlining operations much like tools from competitors such as Square and Kea.
Alongside these updates, Airbnb is experimenting with new AI-generated videos that combine user photos and narrate restaurant or bar highlights, longer 30-second video uploads, grouped before-and-after photo galleries, and planning tools for future projects, all part of a push to make discovery more visual, engaging, and immersive.
Together, these updates reflect Airbnb’s evolution into a more social, AI-enhanced travel ecosystem, one that blends community, discovery, and intelligent assistance to make every trip more memorable.
