Airbnb is evolving in two directions: offline, it aims to compete with hotels by providing various services; online, it utilizes users from the AI and Airbnb networks to assist in travel discovery.

As part of the autumn product update, the company is adding to its services launched last year, including food delivery, laundry, baby product rental, as well as ski and boat rental services in certain areas. It is also expanding its grocery delivery services.

The second major feature is AI search. The company has always been cautious about introducing the AI feature, and CEO Brian Chesky chose to avoid an interface similar to that of a chatbot. Earlier this year, he had previewed a new search function for finding properties.

Now, users can activate a toggle button to search for properties through text or voice prompts. Once the search begins, the interface will display dynamic filtering options based on your preferences. For example, if you enter “baby” in the search filter at AI, Airbnb will automatically further display filter options such as cribs, play areas, children's books, and toys.

The platform also utilizes AI to extract relevant features of properties, and will use the summaries and reviews generated by AI to help users compare the properties on their wish lists.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said to TechCrunch: "We have finally begun our first foray into AI search. What you see now is just the beginning of something. In the coming months, we will be iterating very rapidly. It's not difficult; the challenge lies in delivering AI search in an e-commerce scenario on a platform with a transaction volume of 100 billion dollars."

He also said, "Anyone can use vibe-code to create a search function, but the challenge is to create something that doesn't kill the conversion rate."

Now, travelers can also view a map based on the past or upcoming travels of their contacts. When you click on a particular trip, you can see where your contacts have stayed and what experiences they have had. For those who value privacy, they also have the option not to share their travel records with others.

Airbnb is still building community pages based on guest reviews and other sources to help travelers find places to eat and things to do.