Airbnb Posts Its Fastest Growth in More Than Three Years and Raises Its Full-Year Outlook

Airbnb reported third-quarter revenue of $4.87 billion on Thursday, up 19% from a year earlier, its fastest growth in more than three years.

Diluted earnings per share rose 43% to $3.16, beating the $2.85 analysts polled by FactSet expected. Revenue also cleared the $4.75 billion consensus, and the company raised its full-year outlook the same day.

"It's rare for a marketplace of our size to reaccelerate growth, but that's exactly what we're doing," the company's shareholder letter said. "In Q3, we delivered our fastest revenue growth in more than three years, with acceleration across our business, including our most established markets."

Bookings, not just prices, drove the growth

Nights and Seats Booked, the company's count of stays and experiences reserved, rose 16% to 155 million. Gross booking value, the dollar value of those bookings, rose 21% to $27.7 billion.

The average daily rate was $179, up 4% from a year earlier, so most of the booking-value growth came from volume. First-time bookers grew 13%, the fastest pace since early 2022.

North America, Airbnb's largest region, grew nights at a low-double-digit pace, its fastest in four years. Latin America and Asia Pacific each grew more than 20%, and origin nights booked in India rose more than 60%.

Profit rose faster than revenue, with a tax assist

Net income rose 38% to $1.89 billion, a margin of 39% of revenue, up from 34% a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA, the company's preferred operating measure, rose 22% to $2.51 billion.

Part of the profit jump is a tax comparison, not operations. The letter says the tax provision fell $135 million because the prior year carried a $213 million valuation allowance against deferred tax assets.

Free cash flow was $1.43 billion in the quarter. The implied take rate, revenue divided by booking value, eased to 17.6% as the Reserve Now, Pay Later option pushed more booking value ahead of recognized revenue.

The outlook rose for the quarter and the year

For the fourth quarter, Airbnb expects revenue of $3.22 billion to $3.28 billion, growth of 16% to 18%, including about two percentage points from currency. The range sits above the $3.16 billion analysts expected.

For the full year, the company now expects revenue growth in the high teens, up from at least the mid-teens previously. It lifted its adjusted EBITDA margin target to about 36% for 2026.

The raise comes with two cautions in the letter itself. Fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA margin will dip slightly from a year earlier, partly on marketing timing, and the company is closely monitoring developments in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

AI support is cutting a real cost line

The letter says about 40% of all customer support issues were resolved without a human agent in the quarter, up from a third in the second quarter. Customer support cost per booking fell more than 17% from a year earlier.

"AI is the best thing to ever happen to Airbnb," the letter says, in a section on building what it calls an AI-native platform. The company shipped more than 50 products and features in the quarter, nearly 70% more than a year ago.

A new $12 billion buyback, funded by the cash pile

Airbnb repurchased $700 million of its Class A stock in the quarter, and $2.7 billion of authorization remained at September 30. On Thursday it announced a new program authorizing up to an additional $12 billion of repurchases.

The company held $12.6 billion of cash, equivalents, short-term investments and restricted cash at September 30. It also held $7.4 billion of funds on behalf of guests, which is not its own money.

Investors reversed the day's verdict after hours

The shares had fallen 3.5% in Thursday's regular session, closing at $170.13, as the broader market sold off sharply. After the results, the shares jumped 11.7% in after-hours trading on Thursday, AskTraders reported.

What remains unknown

How much the new businesses contribute. Hotels are still a single-digit share of nights booked, and the letter gives no revenue split for services, experiences or hotels.

Whether the EMEA developments the company flagged stay a monitoring item or become a demand problem. The letter names no specific event or market.

How fast the new buyback is used. The prior program still had $2.7 billion left after a $700 million quarter, so authorization is not the same as pace.

What to watch next

Watch the fourth-quarter print against the $3.22 billion to $3.28 billion guide, the first test of the raised full-year outlook.

Watch the take rate. A second quarter of slippage would suggest the Reserve Now, Pay Later shift is structural, not timing.

Watch support costs and the AI resolution share when the company reports the holiday quarter, for evidence the cost curve keeps bending.