Airbnb Said ‘Forget Hotels.’ Now It Wants Them Everywhere.

On this episode of Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast, Sarah Dandashy, Katie Cline, and Brandreth Canaley are on the ground at Skift Global Forum to unpack Airbnb’s increasingly serious push into hotels and what it could mean for the balance of power in hotel distribution.

Airbnb now has nearly 4,000 hotels using its new listing format, is reportedly charging some operators a 13% commission, and is funding a 15% guest credit as it tries to prove it can bring hotels incremental demand instead of simply shifting bookings away from Booking.com, Expedia, or direct channels. The bigger question: If Airbnb’s endgame is eventually “hotels everywhere,” how different does it remain from the OTAs it once positioned itself against?

Then the conversation expands beyond Airbnb into what Sarah and Brandy heard across day one of Skift Global Forum week, including conversations from the Creator Summit, Live Tourism Summit, and the broader themes shaping where hospitality and travel are headed.