Airbnb partners with Stripe and Klarna to bolster payments on platform

Article by Will Paige | May 22, 2023

The news: Airbnb forged partnerships with Stripe and Klarna to beef up its payments offering.

The tie-in with Stripe lets Airbnb customers pay with a linked US bank account, and they don’t have to reenter bank details for future bookings.
Airbnb’s partnership with Klarna will let users in the US and Canada pay for bookings in four interest-free installments over six weeks. For bookings over $500, guests in the US can apply to pay monthly. More markets will be added throughout the year.

Why it could work: Airbnb is widening the payment options it offers to attract more users and increase spending on the platform.

A2A payments will grow: We expect digital bank transfer volume to increase 9.1% this year to $97.22 billion, per our forecasts. Enabling this method with Stripe gives Airbnb users more checkout choices and an improved customer experience, both of which should strengthen retention.
Customers want more flexible payments: 75% of consumers said they are more likely to choose a pay-by-installment option like BNPL to fund travel over the next year due to economic uncertainty, per a 2022 Amadeus survey. That demand can drive higher spending on Airbnb.

What it means: Both Stripe and Klarna can benefit from tapping Airbnb’s huge reach. The site booked 121.1 million nights and experiences in Q1 and generated $20.4 billion in gross booking value, up 19% year over year on the back of strong travel demand.

Stripe’s latest tie-in highlights the firm’s strategy to partner with the global heavyweights of retail and commerce. It expanded its partnership with Uber and forged ties with Microsoft earlier this month.
And Airbnb offering BNPL underscores the payment method’s growing popularity: We expect the number of BNPL users in the US will grow 11.7% this year to 88.2 million, per our forecasts.