SAN FRANCISCO — Summer was busy, and Airbnb‘s numbers show it. The company raised its outlook for the full year on Thursday, saying 2026 revenue should now grow by a percentage in the high teens. Third-quarter revenue rose 19% to $4.87 billion, according to its shareholder letter.
Profit outran revenue. The company earned $1.89 billion in the quarter. A year ago it earned $1.37 billion. Per diluted share, earnings were $3.16 this time, up from $2.21.
Guests booked 155.0 million nights and seats, 16% more than a year earlier. What they spent added up to $27.7 billion in gross booking value, a rise of 21%. A night cost $179 on average, 4% more than last year.
Cash kept coming in as well. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.51 billion — 22% higher, and equal to 52% of revenue. Free cash flow reached $1.43 billion for the quarter. Count the last four quarters and it comes to $4.90 billion.
“Airbnb is back in growth mode.”
Every region grew by double digits
North America was the surprise. Nights and seats booked there grew by a low-double-digit percentage, the fastest pace in four years. Europe, the Middle East and Africa grew in the mid-teens. Latin America grew by more than 20%. So did Asia Pacific.
First-time bookers were up 13% from a year earlier. That is the strongest growth since early 2022. Gen Z travelers grew fastest, the company said.
A bigger buyback and a higher bar for 2026
Shareholders get a larger buyback as well. Airbnb authorized up to $12 billion more in repurchases of its Class A stock. It had already spent $0.7 billion buying shares back in the quarter, and $2.7 billion of room was left under the older program at the end of September.
Software is cutting one cost line. The AI assistant handled more of the support load, and roughly 40% of issues were resolved without a human agent, up from a third in the second quarter. Support cost per booking fell by more than 17%. The letter credits the assistant’s improvements for much of that drop.
For the fourth quarter, the company guides to revenue of $3.22 billion to $3.28 billion. Growth would be 16% to 18%. It puts the quarter’s adjusted EBITDA margin at about 35% to 36%, and the full-year margin at about 34.0% to 34.5%.
Net income for the full year should grow by a low-double-digit percentage. In the fourth quarter it should fall. Higher operating costs are one reason. Another is a gift of stock in October — $400 million of Class A shares donated by co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky to the Chesky Family Foundation.
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