A rental apartment living room. Photo: Lisa Anna/Pexels.
Airbnb raised its annual revenue-growth outlook Thursday after reporting third-quarter revenue of $4.87 billion, up 19%, and announced authorization to buy back up to an additional $12 billion of its Class A shares.
The travel-booking company reported diluted earnings of $3.16 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, above the $2.85 analyst estimate cited by Investing.com. Net income was about $1.9 billion, according to Airbnb’s results announcement. The company described revenue growth as its fastest in more than three years.
Bookings grew faster than revenue
Gross booking value rose 21% to $27.7 billion. That measure is the total value of bookings on Airbnb’s platform, not the revenue Airbnb keeps. It offers a view of activity across the marketplace, while the company’s own revenue is a separate figure.
Nights and Seats Booked increased 16% to 155 million, Reuters reported. The combined metric includes more than room nights, so it should not be read as 155 million overnight stays alone.
Airbnb said every region delivered double-digit nights growth, with growth accelerating across its five core markets: the United States, France, Britain, Canada and Australia. It said North American nights booked grew at their fastest rate in four years. Those are the company’s descriptions of booking trends, not a promise that every host or destination saw the same gains.
A higher forecast and a larger buyback
For full-year 2026, Airbnb now expects revenue growth in the high teens, compared with its earlier forecast of at least mid-teens growth, Reuters reported. Fourth-quarter revenue guidance is $3.22 billion to $3.28 billion, representing growth of 16% to 18%. The forecast remains an estimate, not a completed result.
The new $12 billion share-repurchase authorization is additional capacity to buy stock. Authorization does not mean the company has already spent $12 billion on repurchases or that it must buy the entire amount immediately.
Airbnb said underlying travel demand remained healthy while it continued to monitor developments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For travelers and hosts, the report describes demand and the company’s financial position; it does not announce a platform-wide reduction in booking fees or guarantee future occupancy.
AI support is operating; the travel agent is planned
Airbnb said about 40% of all customer-support issues were resolved without a human agent during the quarter, up from roughly a third in the second quarter. The measure covers all support issues, not only conversations that began with its AI assistant. The company also said support cost per booking fell more than 17% from a year earlier.
A separate AI travel agent is still being built. Airbnb plans to begin rolling it out to guests in the first half of 2027, with tools intended to help people explore, compare and book travel. That timetable is a plan, not a launch that has already happened.
The quarter shows faster growth in a large travel marketplace, alongside a higher management forecast and a new buyback authorization. Actual future demand, earnings and product delivery can still differ from the company’s expectations.
JBizNews Desk | Business
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