By Aishwarya Jain and Doyinsola Oladipo
Aug 6 (Reuters) – Vacation rental company Airbnb beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue on Thursday, helped by strong global demand for travel and a boost from first time users during the FIFA World Cup hosted in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Travel companies, including online agencies Expedia and Booking, have benefited from the recently concluded World Cup. Airbnb noted that its North American bookings during the second quarter recorded the highest growth in almost three years. Shares of the San Francisco-based company rose 8.35% in extended trading.
“We’ve delivered some of the strongest results in years,” said Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on an earnings call. “More new guests are trying Airbnb than we’ve seen in years.”
Globally, nights and seats booked, a metric that includes both room stays and service bookings, rose 10% to 148.3 million in the quarter. In North America, which made up over 40% of its revenue in 2025, quarterly bookings rose by a “high-single-digit” percentage.
The World Cup and growth in markets such as Brazil and India have helped the company partially offset pressure from the Iran war, which has hurt long-haul international travel through flight re-routings and higher jet fuel costs. Airbnb said it has observed a steady recovery of demand in the Middle East.
Since last May, the company has broadened its platform to include services such as private chefs and car rentals, and thousands of boutique hotels, signifying a continued move beyond its original rental focus.
Investors and analysts have closely watched its expansion efforts, as the shift moves it toward a more conventional online travel agency, potentially putting it in competition with heavyweights such as Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor.
Airbnb’s hotel nights booked grew nearly three times faster than homes, though they still represent only a single-digit percentage of total nights booked, it said.
The company expects 2026 revenue to improve “at least mid teens”, compared with a range of “low to mid teens” forecast earlier.
It posted earnings per share of $1.37 for the quarter ended June 30, compared with $1.03 a year ago.
Quarterly revenue was $3.61 billion, up from $3.1 billion a year earlier. Analysts, on average, estimated revenue of $3.57 billion and earnings per share of $1.25, according to data compiled by LSEG.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Rod Nickel)
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