Sarah · Sep 14, 2026 · 3 min read
Airbnb has promoted Zhiqiu Kong to regional director for Asia, putting China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia under one leader. Michael He takes over as China country manager.
Airbnb has committed $250 million to finishing stalled housing projects and will publish an annual index scoring cities on housing supply. For operators facing short-term rental caps, the index matters more than the money.
SiteMinder's channel data puts Madrid's average daily rate for the 10–13 September Grand Prix at €485, against €286 for the same weekend in 2025 — on room nights up only 3.5%. Booking lead time stretched from 90 to 130 days.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky called sponsored listings "a straight shot to $1 billion incremental high margin revenue" and pointed to supply-side services as the company's main margin opportunity.
The first grant under Airbnb's $50 million rural Spain programme goes to ADRI Calatayud, converting two buildings in Godojos into rental homes. The fund is now opening to applications from organisations across Spain.
A USHCC poll commissioned with Airbnb finds 76% of Latino adults see short-term hosting as a practical income supplement — and 52% favour allowing hosting under reasonable guidelines, against 43% of the general population.
Europe's General Court dismissed Booking Holdings' appeal against the 2023 prohibition of its €1.63bn Etraveli acquisition, endorsing a "reverse leveraging" theory of harm that applies to dominant firms only — leaving Expedia free to keep buying in adjacent categories.
Airbnb marks the third anniversary of New York's short-term rental registration law with internal figures on lost host income and backing for Intro. 879, a bill that would loosen the guest cap and lock rules without touching the primary-residence requirement.
Airbnb says the Commission's draft Affordable Housing Act sets the right principles but leaves hosts exposed to arbitrary local restrictions, and wants a notification-and-review process attached before it becomes law.
The EU's General Court has rejected Booking Holdings' appeal against the blocked €1.6 billion Etraveli acquisition, endorsing the Commission's view that the deal would have entrenched Booking's dominance in hotel distribution.
Google has rebuilt its European search results page for the Digital Markets Act, splitting aggregators from direct suppliers and stripping date filters, live pricing and the vacation rentals unit.
Booking.com's public connectivity roadmap carries three hard dates in the next eight weeks: campaign sign-ups close 1 October, campaign proofs are due 31 October, and two legacy APIs are being retired in Q4.