Airbnb partnered with TELUS Digital to build a scalable global customer experience operation capable of supporting millions of hosts and guests across more than 190 countries. By adopting a hybrid support model that combined internal expertise with outsourced customer service teams across the Philippines, Ireland, and Canada, Airbnb improved operational efficiency, maintained 24/7 multilingual coverage, and enabled internal teams to focus on trust, safety, and platform innovation.
Company
Airbnb
Services Provided
Customer Support
Host Support
Guest Support
Multilingual Customer Service
24/7 Customer Experience Operations
Back-Office Support
Customer Service Scalability
Industry
Travel Technology / Online Marketplace
Locations
Philippines
Ireland
Canada
Operating Model
Airbnb utilized a hybrid customer support model where outsourced teams managed standard support interactions while internal teams focused on complex trust, safety, and escalated customer issues.
Delivery Structure
TELUS Digital provided customer support operations through multiple delivery centers, including major hubs in the Philippines, Ireland, and Canada. These teams supported hosts and guests globally across multiple languages, time zones, and service channels.
Why This Approach
As Airbnb’s global marketplace expanded, customer support demands increased dramatically.
Unlike traditional travel businesses, Airbnb operates a two-sided marketplace where both hosts and guests require assistance. This creates dual support streams that must be managed simultaneously across a global network of users.
The company also experienced significant seasonal demand spikes during peak travel periods, creating fluctuations that were difficult to support through internal teams alone.
Additionally, providing multilingual support across hundreds of countries and maintaining continuous 24/7 coverage presented substantial staffing and cost challenges.
Airbnb needed a scalable support model capable of growing alongside its global platform while preserving service quality and operational efficiency.
Success Snapshot
Performance Drivers
- Multi-country customer support delivery model
- Dedicated support hubs across key regions
- 24/7 multilingual customer service coverage
- Flexible workforce scaling during peak travel periods
- Hybrid support structure separating routine and high-risk cases
- Specialized support for hosts and guests
Outcomes
- Scalable support operations across 190+ countries
- Cost-effective global customer service coverage
- Improved operational efficiency
- Continuous multilingual support availability
- Internal teams focused on trust, safety, and strategic initiatives
- Enhanced scalability during seasonal travel surges
Company Background
Airbnb is one of the world’s largest online travel marketplaces, connecting travelers with accommodation providers across more than 190 countries.
The platform serves millions of guests and hosts, creating a highly dynamic customer support environment that requires responsiveness, flexibility, and global coverage.
As user growth accelerated, customer experience became increasingly important to maintaining trust, engagement, and platform success.
Industry and Operating Context
Travel marketplaces face unique customer support challenges.
Unlike traditional hospitality businesses, platforms such as Airbnb must support multiple stakeholder groups, including hosts, guests, and property managers.
Customer inquiries often occur around the clock and can increase significantly during peak travel seasons, major holidays, and unexpected travel disruptions.
Maintaining multilingual support across global markets can be expensive and difficult to scale through internal staffing alone.
Many fast-growing marketplace companies adopt outsourcing strategies to create flexible customer experience operations capable of handling fluctuating demand while maintaining service quality.
Core Problem
Airbnb’s challenge centered on global scale.
Rapid platform growth created increasing support volumes from both hosts and guests, resulting in dual customer service queues that required continuous management.
Seasonal booking surges placed additional pressure on support teams, while multilingual service requirements made staffing increasingly complex.
Providing 24/7 customer support entirely through internal teams would have required significant investment and operational overhead.
The company needed a solution that would improve scalability without compromising customer experience.
Offshore Solution
Airbnb partnered with TELUS Digital to build a distributed customer support network spanning multiple global locations.
The outsourcing model enabled standard customer interactions to be managed through dedicated support teams located in:
- Philippines
- Ireland
- Canada
These teams provided:
- Host Support
- Guest Support
- Multilingual Customer Service
- 24/7 Coverage
- Customer Experience Operations
At the same time, Airbnb retained internal ownership of complex trust and safety cases, escalations, and high-risk customer situations.
This hybrid model ensured routine support requests could be handled efficiently at scale while allowing internal specialists to focus on areas requiring deeper expertise and judgment.
Results
The partnership enabled Airbnb to create a highly scalable global customer experience operation.
Routine support interactions were efficiently managed through outsourced teams, reducing operational pressure on internal resources and creating greater flexibility during peak demand periods.
Internal customer experience teams were able to focus on strategic priorities, platform improvements, and complex trust and safety matters rather than high-volume support requests.
The multi-hub support model also delivered continuous multilingual coverage while maintaining cost-effective operations across Airbnb’s global marketplace.
Measurable Outcomes
- Support coverage across 190+ countries
- 24/7 multilingual customer service operations
- Improved operational efficiency
- Enhanced scalability during seasonal demand surges
- Cost-effective global support model
- Greater focus on strategic customer experience initiatives
Operational Outcomes
- Streamlined customer support operations
- Improved workforce flexibility
- Expanded multilingual service capabilities
- Better management of seasonal demand fluctuations
- Enhanced global customer experience coverage
Business Impact
- Supported continued global platform growth
- Reduced operational burden on internal teams
- Improved allocation of specialized support resources
- Increased scalability without proportional cost growth
- Strengthened customer experience infrastructure
Conclusion
Airbnb’s partnership with TELUS Digital demonstrates how global marketplace platforms can balance scale, efficiency, and customer experience through strategic outsourcing.
By routing routine support interactions to dedicated teams across the Philippines, Ireland, and Canada while retaining complex trust and safety functions internally, Airbnb created a flexible support model capable of serving millions of users worldwide. The approach improved operational efficiency, delivered 24/7 multilingual coverage, and enabled internal teams to focus on higher-value strategic initiatives.
The result was a scalable customer experience operation that supported Airbnb’s continued growth across more than 190 countries while maintaining the responsiveness required in a global travel marketplace.
