Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Wants To Build The Everything App

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Synopsis

In a bold services redesign, Airbnb’s CEO reimagines the app, merging travel design with lifestyle ambitions.

Key takeaways

• Airbnb shifts from a utility app to an emotional, curated experience.
• Chesky revives founder-led micromanagement to fix bloated operations.
• Apple-style functional teams replace traditional corporate hierarchy.
• Design becomes the tool to merge AI, trust, and multi-service expansion.

Airbnb’s identity

In a revealing episode of Decoder with Nilay Patel, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky opened up about the platform’s future—and it’s not just rentals anymore. “We’re in a midlife crisis,” he admits, positioning Airbnb to go far beyond booking homes.

With a sweeping redesign of its app and a new focus on services—think chefs, trainers, and masseuses—Chesky is betting big on becoming a lifestyle super-app. “I want Airbnb to be used every week, not once or twice a year,” he declared.

This pivot signals an existential shift. No longer is Airbnb just a travel utility; it’s a design-centric ecosystem that fuses logistics with emotion. But is this growth, or mission drift?

Flat design is dead

One of the most notable shifts? Airbnb’s visual direction. Chesky throws shade on the once-trendy flat design, saying it “stripped the soul” out of digital products.

The app is now reimagined with depth—”a bolder visual language” meant to evoke feelings, not just facilitate transactions.

“I didn’t want it to feel like a database,” Chesky explained.

Every screen now encourages discovery, with revamped Explore tabs and immersive visuals designed to feel like flipping through a lifestyle magazine, rather than scrolling through a booking engine.

It’s a challenge to both UI designers and design systems: how do you make digital feel human again?

Founder mode: Chesky’s Apple-inspired structure

Airbnb’s pivot isn’t just aesthetic—it’s structural.

Chesky has torn up the old corporate playbook, replacing traditional business units with Apple-style “functional teams.”

Designers, engineers, and marketers now report up through their disciplines rather than general managers. It’s more craftsmanship, less corporate ladder.

In Chesky’s words: “Designers should work for designers, engineers for engineers.” This shift centralizes design quality and product consistency, echoing his mentorship under Jony Ive.

Chesky even jokes he was “meddling” too much—then realizes that was the job. He’s now deep in the details, approving product specs and redesign briefs himself.

Designing trust in an AI-first travel world

With the rise of AI agents, Chesky is cautious. He doesn’t want Airbnb reduced to a backend for ChatGPT or Siri. His goal? To ensure the interface remains “visual, human, and trustworthy.”

Yes, AI is coming to Airbnb. It’ll help users get recommendations and service providers manage bookings. But design will be the guardian, keeping human interaction at the center.

“I don’t think people will just want to talk to an agent. They’ll want to browse,” Chesky says.

He’s designing against disintermediation—making sure Airbnb is not just a product but a destination. The interface becomes the brand’s last defense in a world of faceless algorithms.

Services expansion

Chesky’s most controversial move is expanding Airbnb into daily services. A curated network of chefs, hair stylists, dog walkers, and yoga instructors is already being piloted in LA. It’s part Airbnb, part Uber, part Thumbtack.

The $200–$250 million investment isn’t just about features. It’s about designing a new use case: staying in, booking a haircut, and ordering a private dinner—all through Airbnb.

But here’s the catch: trust. “The biggest challenge is safety and trust,” Chesky says, recognizing that scaling this without diluting Airbnb’s identity is no small task.

Airbnb’s vetting system and brand equity become the design layer that legitimizes this bold expansion.

Designers, take notes

This isn’t just a tech update. It’s a masterclass in using design to steer business transformation.

From visual identity to structural reorgs, Chesky is rewriting the rules—with pixels, teams, and services. And he’s doing it in public, with the stakes higher than ever.

For product designers and strategists, the Airbnb redesign is a rare moment: a founder-led, design-first bet on the future of travel and trust.

Whether it flies or flops, Chesky’s vision is forcing the design industry to re-examine what “experience” really means.

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