Case Study: Airbnb achieves 8x quicker bookings and 3x faster host responses with Airship push notifications

Airbnb Connects Travelers and Hosts Through Push

Airbnb’s mobile app connects travelers with hosts around the world, offering unique accommodations with the tap of a finger. To support its community marketplace, Airbnb needed real‑time, reliable communication between renters and hosts—email was too slow and international SMS was prohibitively expensive—so the company sought a time‑sensitive messaging solution that would work across countries and carriers.

Airbnb implemented Urban Airship push notifications to deliver instant alerts to both guests and hosts, with a simple, fast integration. The result: hosts respond three times faster than with email, bookings occur eight times quicker when both parties opt in, and recipients are half as likely to let responses expire—while avoiding per‑message SMS costs and improving the overall user experience.

Airbnb

Andrew Vilcsak

Mobile Platform Lead