Airbnb Risk Assessment: Ranking Strategic Threats and Mitigations

What do you consider the most serious risks to Airbnb's business, and how would you rank them? ```hint Start from the business model Ask what Airbnb's model depends on to work, then what could break each piece. Commit to a short ranked list instead of naming everything you can think of. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should I cover only the core stays marketplace, or also Airbnb's bets beyond stays, such as experiences? - What time horizon matters here: the next year, or the next five years? - Do you want risks to the company only, or also risks to guests and hosts, such as safety incidents, that turn into business risk? - Should I stop at identifying and ranking the risks, or also propose what Airbnb's product teams could do about the top ones? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A structure that covers both sides of the marketplace and the outside environment without leaving gaps - Specific risks tied to how Airbnb makes money, rather than generic business risks - An explicit ranking by likelihood and impact, separating existential threats from manageable ones - Concrete mitigations for the top risks and the early signals that would show each one materializing - Reasoning from public information only, with judgments clearly labeled as the candidate's own ### Follow-up Questions - If you were the PM on the host team, which of these risks would you work on first, and what would you build? - How could AI assistants that plan and book trips change Airbnb's position, and how should it respond? - Which of these risks do you think is overrated, and why?