Airbnb has quietly launched a new feature called Connections, now visible in user profiles. At first glance, it’s a simple way to stay in touch with the people you’ve traveled with through Airbnb. But in context, it’s the clearest signal yet that Airbnb is building what CEO Brian Chesky has long hinted at: a real-world social network, rooted not in likes or follows, but in offline, high-trust interactions.
What Is Airbnb Connections?
Connections now appears as its own tab under your profile, alongside About Me and Past Trips.
Here’s how it works:
- Automatic connections: When you travel with someone or join an Airbnb Experience, their profile shows up in your Connections.
- Private view: Your Connections list is visible only to you. Others can’t see who you’re connected with.
- Profile sharing: What others see is your Airbnb profile, which you can update at any time.
- Removal process: If you want to remove a connection, you have to email Airbnb with a reservation confirmation code. Both parties are removed from each other’s lists.
In short, Connections gives guests a way to revisit past social ties made through Airbnb; whether that’s a travel companion, someone you met on a group hike, or fellow participants in a pasta-making class.
How Connections Builds on Past Trips
If you’ve opened your Airbnb profile recently, you may have noticed another update: Past Trips now appears as its own tab, and it’s marked “new.”
This refreshed feature acts like a travel log, showing you the places you’ve stayed and the Experiences you’ve booked, complete with photos and dates. While this may look like a simple cosmetic change, it’s actually the foundation for what comes next.
Connections builds directly on top of Past Trips.
- Past Trips = your history of where you went.
- Connections = the who from those trips that Airbnb now makes visible to you.
By pairing these two, Airbnb is effectively turning each booking into not just a memory of a place, but a record of the people you shared it with. That’s a small but significant shift — and it’s why both features are being surfaced together.
Airbnb’s Social Network Strategy: Not Facebook, Not X
We’ve written before that Airbnb isn’t trying to become the next Facebook or X. Connections is different because the social graph doesn’t start online. It starts in real life.
- You stayed in a home together.
- You joined the same Experience.
- You traveled with a verified guest.
This approach creates a network with three distinct advantages:
- Verified and trusted users: Everyone has a booking, a profile, and usually reviews behind them. Fake accounts are rare.
- Warmer interactions: The tone is shaped by real-world experiences, not anonymous comments.
- High-value audience: Airbnb’s connections are global travelers who spend money on trips and activities — not just casual scrollers.
As we noted back in May 2025: “This isn’t a social network built on memes. It’s built on ramen-making workshops, hikes in Lisbon, and gallery tours in Rome.”
How We Got Here: Airbnb’s Slow Social Build
Connections may look like a small update, but it’s been years in the making.
- 2023: At Stanford, Brian Chesky warned that “loneliness is the crisis of this generation” and teased group travel products targeting Gen Z.
- 2025 Summer Release: Airbnb redesigned guest profiles, added “Who’s Going” previews for Experiences, and launched group chats for participants.
- 2025 Chesky interview on The Verge: Chesky described Airbnb as a “real-life social network” and outlined the ambition to become a lifestyle super app.
Connections is the next logical step. It takes those one-off encounters from trips and makes them persistent, stored in your profile, waiting to be revisited.
Strategic Implications
For Airbnb:
- Stickier app engagement: Connections give users a reason to open Airbnb between trips.
- Richer data: Airbnb now knows not just where you travel, but who you travel with — a powerful layer on top of its existing taste and location data.
- Future products: The company could use this social graph to power recommendations for travel buddies, roommates, or even dating.
For property managers:
- The impact is indirect for now, but significant in the long run. If Airbnb succeeds in making the app a weekly habit, it keeps guests inside its ecosystem and builds loyalty that extends beyond bookings.
- A more social Airbnb could drive repeat trips and brand affinity, making it harder for managers to pull guests off-platform.
Risks & Open Questions
Of course, building social features comes with baggage. Even with identity verification, not every interaction will be welcome. Airbnb will need to manage:
- Unwanted contact or pressure to stay connected
- Moderation challenges as messaging expands
- User privacy — will Connections always stay private, or evolve into something more visible?
So far, Airbnb has kept Connections low-key and personal. But if the network grows, the balance between connection and safety will be delicate.
More Than Stays, More Than Experiences
Connections marks another step in Airbnb’s shift from being a booking platform to being a habit-forming social app.
This isn’t about abstract “engagement” but persistent relationships grounded in shared trips. If Airbnb becomes the place where people reconnect, recommend, and return, it transforms from a site you use once or twice a year to one you keep open all the time.
For hosts and managers, that may feel distant, but it matters. Because Airbnb’s bet is clear: the future of travel isn’t just about places. It’s about people, and the connections that make those places meaningful.
