Brian Chesky, the number one of the company that has transformed the world of travel, tells the evolution of the platform beyond the houses: to offer services and experiences and build a new social network. Where to make knowledge away from the screen
Airbnb is like Nutella: it is the automatic synonym of a category, the emblem not of the spreadable cream but of the short rent.
He transformed tourism by invading the vocabulary: saying “I go to an Airbnb” now belongs to common language. It is the brand that identifies the product.
Today, after making the houses of others accessible, exceeded 2 billion guests, its founder Brian Chesky has decided to expand the field. To enrich the platform with services and experiences: chefs, massages, hairdressers and personal trainers at home, guided tours in cities, adventures in nature, multiple variations on the theme of doing beyond being. Panorama He meets him after the presentation of the activities organized with the Olympic athletes: 26 proposals dedicated to sports lovers, in view of Milan Cortina 2026. For the occasion, he does not wear the classic casual uniform of Silicon Valley, but the jacket and shirt. It seems genuinely enthusiastic when he discovers that those who interview him is from Catanzaro like him (“I am on the side of my mother. I feel pride for my Italian roots, for this culture so rich”), does not dodge the spiny questions about the side effects of the success of his creature, similar to those of excessive consumption of certain exquisite, however too caloric foods.
Chesky, let’s start from the end. Why complicate your life and go beyond the endless catalog of accommodation?
Airbnb has always been something more. Its essence is, from the beginning, to connect people. Their main value is not the houses, but time. Experiences build memories, those we carry inside. I think they will be able to attract a wider audience.
It sounds like a front challenge against hotels.
They have many services and is one of the reasons why people choose them. We can do better, get to have a range of proposals accessible not only when you are on vacation.
Do you intend to contact cities residents too?
If the logic is pressing a button and having a cook at home or subscribe to a kitchen lesson, it must not necessarily be tied to the booking of a distant living room. It can work for the inhabitants of every place. We aim to be a reference, to make Airbnb a lifestyle rather than a way of traveling.
With the services that started from scratch, without the comfort of reviews of other users. Why trust?
We have raised the level, we are aware that this is a territory of optional choices, not essential as a away accommodation. People, therefore, are particularly attentive to quality. We evaluate any proposal before publishing it, we verify the identity, training, titles and, if necessary, the licenses of those who offer it, consulting the opinions received on other platforms. Let’s give a kind of wax seal.
You will soon launch a sort of social network linked to experiences.
It will be voluntary, everyone will decide whether to be part of it or not. By giving consent, you can see in advance who will be there to a certain appointment. It will be possible to exchange messages first, photos and videos once concluded. In short, stay in touch.
What does it have to do with Airbnb?
The promise of the internet was to make the world smaller and kept it only on a digital level. It is not easy to interact with strangers, we are hardly talking to them when we are in the restaurant or stadium. Traveling is different: you are open to the encounter. We want to facilitate it.
What is the perspective?
I would like Airbnb to be the method for finding roommates before a start or choosing a house knowing that a friend has already been and appreciated it. There are not many technological companies that are working on such a humanist plane.
Is it a criticism of the sector to which it belongs?
It is an observation. Social networks have become social media, the friends of the followers. The frontier is to consume content generated by artificial intelligence. I prefer to remember that life does not flow on smartphones. They are tools, do not port them. Many apps do everything to push people to spend as much time as possible to use them, we are a pass. Not for yet another virtual destination, but towards the real world.
So real that it has favored the increase in the prices of the houses and caused a lower availability of accommodation for the residents of the cities. Not to mention phenomena such as Overurrism.
The point is not that too many people travel, but who do it in the same place, at the same time. We could contribute to this picture, such as cruises or hotels. But for each person who is in an Airbnb, nine stay in a hotel. We redistribute the flows: half of our business in Italy are not in large centers, but in rural communities. Coinciding with major events such as the Olympics, we represent a cheaper solution or a possibility of accommodation where there are no alternatives. And many Italians count on us in order to pay
their rents and their mortgages.
Are you leaving any accusation?
I think the measure of our responsibilities is often exaggerated and not properly supported by the data. We never wanted to contribute to getting to the costs of the houses. If it happened, we have to look in the mirror, work with local regulators, understand their difficulties and adapt to comply with reasonable rules. We don’t want to be part of the problem, but of the solution.
