Airbnb Interview Questions & Hiring Process Guide (2025)

If you’re preparing for upcoming Airbnb interview questions, you’re stepping into one of the most exciting tech hiring landscapes in 2025. Airbnb has rapidly evolved into a global travel and lifestyle super app, combining homes, services, and experiences within a redesigned AI-first platform. This transformation is creating demand for candidates like you—people who can think creatively, solve real-world problems, and contribute to a human-centered, tech-driven mission. With over $11 billion in revenue and nearly half a billion bookings last year, Airbnb is hiring aggressively across engineering, analytics, operations, and customer experience. The Airbnb interview process has also changed to reflect this shift. It now emphasizes communication, values alignment, and real-world impact, not just technical skills. Whether you’re applying for a product, customer service, or data role, this guide will help you navigate the process and show up with confidence.

Working at Airbnb in 2025 means joining a company where your impact can scale globally—across 170+ countries and over 1.5 billion guest arrivals. You’ll contribute to a mission that blends human connection with cutting-edge technology, all while working in one of the most flexible environments in tech. Airbnb’s Live and Work Anywhere policy lets you live where you thrive, with no pay penalties and the freedom to work internationally. You’ll also receive a $2,000 annual travel stipend to stay at Airbnbs and experience the product you help build. With investments in AI, technical training, and cross-functional growth, your skills will expand quickly. Most importantly, you’ll join a culture rooted in hospitality, creativity, and belonging—where diverse voices are valued and innovation is part of everyday work.

The Airbnb hiring process in 2025 is structured, fast-paced, and panel-driven, typically spanning three to five weeks from your first application to final decision. You’ll encounter a blend of technical and behavioral assessments through interview rounds including:

• Resume & Recruiter Screen
• Technical / Functional Assessment
• Values & Culture Fit Interview
• On-Site Loop
• Offer Review & Hiring Committee

Resume & Recruiter Screen

Your journey through the Airbnb recruitment process starts with a meticulous resume review and a recruiter screen. At this stage, recruiters are searching for more than just technical skills—they want to see how your experiences and motivations align with Airbnb’s mission. Expect questions about your passion for Airbnb, your willingness to relocate or work remotely, and how you’ve embodied values like “Champion the Mission” or “Be a Host” in your past roles. Data shows that tailoring your resume to highlight impact and value fit increases your odds of progressing by up to 70%. During the 30–45 minute recruiter call, you’ll walk through your background, discuss your reasons for applying, and answer behavioral questions that probe your alignment with Airbnb’s culture. It’s your first chance to show you’re more than a resume—you’re a future host for Airbnb’s community.

Technical / Functional Screen

The technical or functional assessment is where you get to showcase your real-world skills. The format varies by role: for engineering, you’ll face a timed coding challenge (often on HackerRank) with problems rated medium to hard, and you’ll need to submit working code—no pseudocode allowed. For data, product, or design roles, expect a take-home case, SQL or analytics test, or a product sense scenario, often followed by a live presentation or discussion.

Airbnb’s assessments are data-backed and closely mirror the actual challenges you’ll face on the job, so practicing with time constraints and focusing on clarity and creativity in your solutions is key. For specific prep, check out the other guides mentioned below. Your performance here is a major factor in advancing, as Airbnb’s bar for technical excellence is high.

Values & Culture Fit Interview

Airbnb’s core values interview is a distinct, data-driven round that carries significant weight in the hiring decision. You’ll be assessed using the Airbnb core values interview questions, which means interviewers (often from outside your functional team) will ask for detailed stories about how you’ve demonstrated values like “Embrace the Adventure” or “Be a Cereal Entrepreneur.” This isn’t about technical skills—it’s about how you think, act, and grow. You might be asked to reflect on your most difficult decision, a time something didn’t go as planned, or how you fostered belonging or creativity in a team.

Airbnb’s research shows that teams with strong value alignment are more engaged and effective, so bring authentic, specific examples from your life and work. The interviewer won’t have seen your resume, so focus on your motivations, learnings, and personal growth.

On-Site / Final Loop

If you reach the final loop, you’ll spend a half day (virtually or at Airbnb’s SF campus) meeting 4–6 stakeholders from across the business. This stage is a true test of your adaptability, technical depth, and culture fit. You’ll face a mix of technical deep-dives, live or take-home challenges, and behavioral interviews, each lasting about an hour. For engineers, expect system design, architecture, and coding; for product or design, you’ll tackle real-world case studies and cross-functional scenarios. Airbnb’s data shows that this marathon round is highly predictive of long-term success, so pace yourself and be ready to demonstrate not just what you know, but how you collaborate and communicate under pressure. Every interviewer is assessing both your skills and your alignment with Airbnb’s mission.

Offer Stage & Hiring Committee

Once you’ve completed all rounds, your interviewers submit feedback and ratings, which are reviewed by a hiring committee for leveling and compensation benchmarking. The hiring manager now makes the final decision, but your packet is still reviewed for consistency and fairness across Airbnb’s global standards. You’ll receive a detailed offer that includes competitive compensation, equity, and—if needed—relocation support. Airbnb’s process is designed to be transparent and fast: most candidates receive an offer within a week of their final interview. The company’s data shows that this structured, committee-driven approach leads to better long-term retention and satisfaction for new hires.

Explore the most relevant and frequently asked Airbnb interview questions across roles, technical challenges, and behavioral assessments to help you prepare with focus and clarity. Each role at Airbnb comes with unique expectations, so we’ve curated targeted question guides to match the skills and scenarios most relevant to your application.

Role-Specific Interview Guides

• Data Engineer Interview Questions
• Data Analyst Interview Questions
• Business Analyst Interview Questions
• Data Scientist Interview Questions
• Machine Learning Engineer Interview Questions
• Product Manager Interview Questions
• Software Engineer Interview Questions
• Airbnb Business Intelligence Interview Questions
• Airbnb Growth Marketing Analyst Interview Questions
• Airbnb Product Analyst Interview Questions

Technical Depth & Coding Questions

These Airbnb technical interview questions focus on problem-solving, algorithms, and debugging—designed to mirror the kinds of real-world challenges you’ll face on the job:

1. Given a list of integers, and an integer N, write a function to find all combinations that sum to the value N

To solve this, use recursion to explore all possible combinations of integers that sum to N. Start by subtracting each integer from N and recursively solving the subproblem. Ensure combinations are unique by limiting the integers list passed to subsequent recursive calls.

2. Write a Python function called max_profit that takes a list of integers, where the i-th integer represents the price of a given stock on day i, and returns the maximum profit you can achieve by buying and selling the stock.

To solve this, iterate through the list of prices while maintaining four variables: buy1, profit1, buy2, and profit2. buy1 tracks the lowest price for the first transaction, and profit1 calculates the profit from the first transaction. Similarly, buy2 adjusts for the profit from the first transaction, and profit2 calculates the maximum profit achievable with two transactions. Return profit2 as the result.

3. Given an integer N, write a function that returns all of the prime numbers up to N

To solve this, iterate through numbers from 2 to N and check if each number is prime by verifying divisibility only up to its square root. Optimizations include checking numbers of the form (6n \pm 1) and skipping even numbers. Return a list of all prime numbers found.

4. Given a string sentence, return the same string with an addendum after each character of the number of occurrences a character appeared in the sentence.

To solve this, iterate through the string and count the frequency of each character using a dictionary, excluding spaces and characters in the discard list. Append the frequency to each character in the string unless it is in the discard list.

5. Write a function friendship_timeline to generate an output that lists the pairs of friends with their corresponding timestamps of the friendship beginning and ending.

To solve this, iterate through the friends_removed list and match each entry with the corresponding friends_added entry based on sorted user_ids. Remove matched entries from friends_added to avoid duplicate matches, and construct the output list with the friendship’s start and end dates.

System Design & Architecture Questions

Expect Airbnb system design interview questions that test your ability to scale products, build reliable infrastructure, and collaborate across engineering and product teams:

6. How would you build an ETL pipeline to get Stripe payment data into the database?

To build an ETL pipeline for Stripe payment data, start by extracting data using Stripe’s API, ensuring proper authentication and data retrieval. Transform the data to match the schema of your internal database, handling any necessary data cleaning or formatting. Finally, load the transformed data into the database, automating the process with tools like Airflow for scheduling and monitoring.

7. Create a schema to keep track of customer address changes

To track customer address changes, design a schema with three tables: Customers, Addresses, and CustomerAddressHistory. The CustomerAddressHistory table includes move_in_date and move_out_date fields to record occupancy periods. This schema ensures historical data retention and allows queries for current and past addresses.

8. How would you build a machine learning system to generate Spotify’s discover weekly playlist?

To generate Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist, you can use collaborative filtering and content-based filtering techniques. Collaborative filtering analyzes user listening patterns and preferences, while content-based filtering uses song metadata like genre, artist, and tempo. Combining these methods with user feedback and reinforcement learning can refine recommendations over time.

9. Given a web app, how would you create a schema to represent client click data?

To design a schema for client click data, start by assigning specific labels to each action (e.g., folder_click, login_click). Include fields such as user_id, created_at, session_id, user_agent, value_type, value_id, device, url, and utm to track detailed analytics. This schema enables efficient querying and analysis of user interactions.

10. Suppose that you work for McDonald’s. You are to create a dynamic real-time dashboard highlighting the sales of each branch. How would you design the database and engineering system for this?

To design the system, divide it into three sections: data source, processing engine, and dashboard. Use POS systems for real-time data acquisition, a processing engine with in-memory storage for updates, and a Redis cache for leaderboard rankings. Ensure reliability with failover mechanisms and load balancing for scalability and minimal latency.

Mission & Core Values Questions

Many interview questions Airbnb candidates face go beyond skill—they test how deeply you align with Airbnb’s mission, values, and culture of belonging and creativity:

11. How comfortable are you presenting your insights?

This is a common Airbnb interview question for roles involving data or strategy. Airbnb values team members who can translate complex data into actionable insights across functions like Product, Operations, and Trust. To answer this, describe your approach to storytelling with data. Talk about how you use tools like Tableau, Google Slides, or Looker to make findings accessible. Share an example of presenting to both technical and non-technical audiences, either remotely or in-person, and highlight how you adjusted your tone and visuals to fit the context.

12. Talk about a time when you had trouble communicating with stakeholders. How were you able to overcome it?

Airbnb is a stakeholder-heavy environment. You may be collaborating with product managers, designers, legal teams, or community operations staff. Miscommunication can happen. Use this question to reflect on a moment when expectations were misaligned. Explain how you clarified goals, adjusted your communication style, and built trust. Emphasize empathy and proactive follow-up as tools that helped you realign and deliver value.

13. Describe an analytics experiment that you designed. How were you able to measure success?

This question often comes up in Airbnb data roles, from marketing analytics to product experimentation. Airbnb values a rigorous and hypothesis-driven mindset. Begin by framing the business problem. Explain how you designed the experiment, including control and treatment groups. Discuss how you selected your success metrics (such as conversion rate or booking frequency), how you ensured statistical validity, and how the results influenced product or operational decisions.

14. Why Do You Want to Work With Us

This is a staple across all Airbnb interview tracks. In 2025, Airbnb continues to build on its mission of helping people “belong anywhere.” Use this opportunity to speak authentically about your connection to the brand. Highlight a particular initiative, such as Airbnb.org, the company’s work on responsible travel, or their data infrastructure at scale. Tie your skills to Airbnb’s future goals, and demonstrate how your career values align with their culture of innovation, empathy, and community.

Customer Service & Operations Questions

These Airbnb interview questions customer service roles often include are built around empathy, judgment, and your ability to resolve guest and host issues with professionalism.

15. How would you handle a situation where a guest arrives at a listing and finds it unclean or uninhabitable?

This is one of the most common Airbnb interview questions customer service teams face. Start by acknowledging the guest’s concerns and apologizing sincerely. Then, offer to help rebook them to a nearby listing or provide a full refund, depending on availability and policy. Document everything and follow escalation protocols to ensure the issue is handled swiftly.

16. Describe how you would mediate a dispute between a guest and host over property damage.

In this example of Airbnb interview questions customer service, the focus is on neutrality. You should listen to both parties, gather evidence like photos or communication logs, and reference Airbnb’s terms of service. Clearly communicate next steps and keep the conversation objective to reach a fair resolution.

17. What steps would you take if a guest repeatedly violates Airbnb’s house rules?

Start by reviewing the reported violations and confirming them with evidence. Then, contact the guest to explain the breach of policy and possible consequences. Depending on severity and frequency, actions may include a warning, suspension, or removal from the platform. This is a scenario that often appears in Airbnb interview questions customer service teams must be prepared for.

18. How do you prioritize tickets when multiple urgent issues are reported at once?

A strong response to this Airbnb interview questions customer service prompt involves triaging based on guest safety, time sensitivity, and impact. Use internal SLAs to guide prioritization. For example, a safety concern would take precedence over a minor listing issue. Maintain communication with lower-priority cases to show responsiveness.

19. What would you say to a host who is upset about a negative review they feel is unfair?

Begin by validating the host’s frustration and then explain Airbnb’s review policy, which allows guests to share personal experiences. Offer to investigate if the review violates content guidelines, such as containing hate speech or personal attacks. This type of diplomacy is a frequent theme in Airbnb interview questions customer service hiring panels use.

Airbnb interview experience is widely recognized as rigorous yet rewarding, blending technical depth with a strong emphasis on culture fit. To stand out, start by immersing yourself in real-world Airbnb case studies—analyzing how the company tackles challenges like dynamic pricing, search ranking, or trust and safety. This not only demonstrates your technical curiosity but also helps you speak Airbnb’s language when discussing product or data scenarios.

Next, practice mapping your achievements to the four Airbnb core values: Champion the Mission, Be a Host, Embrace the Adventure, and Be a Cereal Entrepreneur. Interviewers are trained to probe for authentic stories that reveal how you’ve lived these values, so prepare concise, flexible anecdotes from your work and life. For technical roles, rehearse role-specific assessments using sample problems from Airbnb’s engineering, data, or product guides. Time-box your practice to 45-minute sprints, as Airbnb’s coding and analytics challenges are known for their intensity and require runnable solutions, not just pseudocode.

Simulate the virtual on-site by setting up a distraction-free, office-themed Zoom space and practicing with mock interviews or integrated AI Interviewer tools—candidates who rehearse with realistic simulations improve their performance by over 50%. Clarify your compensation expectations early by researching compensation data, so you’re ready to negotiate confidently if you reach the offer stage.

By combining deep product research, values-driven storytelling, technical mastery, and logistical readiness, you’ll approach your Airbnb interview with both confidence and clarity, giving yourself the best possible shot at success.

Mastering the Airbnb interview process in 2025 means more than just preparing answers—it means understanding the company’s mission, structure, and rapid evolution into a lifestyle super app. As you get ready, follow our Airbnb Data Analytics Learning Path to build the skills that matter. Need a dose of motivation? Read Keerthan Reddy’s success story to see how he landed offers by focusing on values and clarity. When you’re ready to dive into more practice, explore our curated Airbnb SQL scenario-based interview questions collection covering technical, behavioral, and system design challenges. Your next opportunity could start right here—with preparation, strategy, and confidence.

How has Airbnb’s hiring process changed for 2025?

The Airbnb hiring practices 2025 reflect a deeper focus on values alignment, collaboration skills, and adaptability to cross-functional work. While technical assessments remain rigorous, there is now increased weight on storytelling, culture fit, and mission-driven motivation throughout the interview journey.

What does the typical Airbnb hiring process look like from application to offer?

The Airbnb hiring process starts with a resume screen, followed by a recruiter call, technical or functional assessments, and multiple rounds of interviews focused on core values and real-world problem-solving. Final decisions go through a hiring committee for fairness and consistency.

What’s the interview experience like at Airbnb?

The Airbnb interview experience is structured yet human-centered. Candidates describe it as challenging but fair, with thoughtful questions, fast feedback loops, and interviewers who care deeply about values and team fit. Preparation in both technical skills and personal storytelling is essential.