Great people and office, growing pains galore. - Customer Experience Specialist Airbnb Employee Review

3.0
Mar 16, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The office is amazing, incredibly designed by employees, and is a neat environment to work in. The perks are superb such as on-site chefs to cook you breakfast and lunch, premium free health insurance, monthly commute reimbursement, company parties, dogs in the office, and lots of swag.

Cons

As an employee who joined near the end of the hiring cycle in Portland, a lot of us were lost in the masses. The company started out being tight nitched, and it was easy to feel unwelcome as a new employee. Other workers had a sense of annoyance by the presence of new employees, not really welcoming. Leadership is sometimes based on tenure and not on whether or not they are the best fit. If you're not doing well, is easy to get reprimanded for it without much consideration for what support you need from leadership. The schedule was once consistent, and now it's all over the place. We were told we weren't have to work weekends, but that quickly changed. Now employees will only get one day off between five day stretches, which is really exhausting with all the energy this job takes. There's a lot of emphasis put onto the social aspect of the job. If you're an introvert, it's easy to get worn out on all the social events and need to be social in order to advance in the company. Career opportunities are few and far between. Although you can adavance every six months within your role, getting out of that role seems impossible. Burnout and bitterness can be seen in the workers who have been here for awhile. Some employees have gotten bonuses in the office, while other people who have achieved great things and global recognition in the company have received nothing. The ones who have benefitted from these perks make it loudly known to other people in the office, disrupting other people's work and morale. There's an emphasis on office culture, and this has just killed it for a lot of employees.

Explore other reviews about Airbnb

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Laid back, strong mentorship/training, and good team chemistry.

Cons

Online only, they had summer branch offices, but nobody went in.

5.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Airbnb's mission of creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere strongly resonates with me. I'm excited by the opportunity to build products that operate at global scale and directly impact millions of users. My background in full-stack engineering, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and AI-powered applications aligns well with Airbnb's focus on innovation, reliability, and exceptional user experiences. I am particularly attracted to Airbnb's engineering culture, emphasis on ownership, and commitment to solving complex technical challenges while delivering meaningful value to hosts, guests, and communities worldwide.

Cons

One challenge of working at Airbnb is the complexity that comes with operating a global platform at scale. Engineering teams must balance reliability, performance, compliance, and user experience across many markets and stakeholders. While this can make development and decision-making more complex, it is also one of the aspects that makes the work technically interesting and professionally rewarding.

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