Airbnb Q1 2026 earnings: revenue up 18% to $2.7B, guidance raised
Airbnb's Q1 2026 revenue rose 18% to $2.7B on strong bookings growth, and the company raised its full-year outlook.
| Q1 2026 | Reported |
|---|---|
| EPS | — |
| Revenue | $2.68B |
Figures as reported by the company to the SEC for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. Analyst estimates are not part of a filing, so no comparison to expectations is shown.
Key takeaways
- Revenue grew 18% from a year earlier to $2.7 billion, which the company said came in above the high end of its own guidance range for the quarter.
- Gross booking value — the total amount guests spent on trips before Airbnb’s cut — rose 19% to about $29.2 billion, helped by strong travel demand, continued pricing strength, and a favorable currency swing.
- Nights and experiences booked grew 9% to 156.2 million, which management called healthy underlying demand even though the figure absorbed roughly a 1 percentage point drag from the conflict in the Middle East.
- Net income was $160 million for the quarter, and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, a measure of core operating profit) rose 24% year-over-year to $519 million.
- The company generated $1.7 billion in free cash flow during the quarter, cash left over after running the business and funding investments, which management pointed to as evidence the business continues to throw off significant cash.
- Trailing-twelve-month gross margin stood at about 72%, and the operating margin was around 20% — both reflecting Airbnb’s asset-light model, since it doesn’t own the homes listed on its platform.
- Return on equity over the trailing year was about 31%, a sign the company is generating a relatively high level of profit relative to shareholders’ equity.
- For the second quarter, Airbnb guided to revenue of $3.54 billion to $3.6 billion and said nights-booked growth is expected to decelerate slightly from Q1’s pace.
- Airbnb raised its full-year 2026 outlook, now expecting revenue growth to accelerate into the low-to-mid-teens percentage range and adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 35%.
- Coverage of the quarter framed it as a mixed report: strong top-line growth in bookings and revenue alongside softer bottom-line profit than some had hoped, even as the company raised its full-year targets.
Q1 2026 in context
| Metric | Mar 2026 | Mar 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.7B | $2.3B | +17.9% |
| Net income | $160M | $154M | +3.9% |
| Gross margin | 78.3% | 77.7% | +0.6 pts |
| Operating margin | 3.2% | 1.7% | +1.5 pts |
| Net margin | 6.0% | 6.8% | -0.8 pts |
Figures for the quarter ended Mar 2026 and the quarter ended Mar 2025, as reported to the SEC.
How the stock took it
Airbnb Inc closed at $139.88 on May 6, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $141.49 on May 8, 2026, the first session after it — +1.1% across the report.
| Earlier report | Close before | Close after | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 6, 2025 | $122.50 | $120.88 | -1.3% |
Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.
Sources: company report · earnings call · financial media coverage