Key Points
- Airbnb is now the exclusive vacation rental supplier to Amex Travel, with 1 million-plus listings in a new Homes tab; Amex closed its own Select Homes + Retreats product the same day.
- Vrbo lost no existing Amex business because it never supplied the portal, but Expedia’s 2025 push to put Vrbo into its B2B network now has one fewer destination. Airbnb’s exclusivity also bars it from supplying other partners, leaving Vrbo room across Expedia’s 75,000 B2B partners.
- The deal is deeper than Airbnb’s tracked-link tie-ups with Qantas, Delta, and British Airways: card members search inside Amex Travel while Airbnb keeps the sale, payment, and support — placing Airbnb in the card-points channel Expedia cites as core to a B2B unit that grew bookings 21% in Q2 2026.
Summary
Airbnb has become the exclusive vacation rental partner for American Express Travel, placing more than 1 million listings in a new Homes tab on AmexTravel.com and the Amex Travel app, while Amex shut down its own Select Homes + Retreats product. The arrangement puts Airbnb alongside Expedia, which has supplied Amex Travel with flights, hotels, and technology since 2015 and counts the account among its most important B2B relationships. An American Express spokesperson told Skift there is no change to its existing business with Expedia, and both Airbnb and Expedia declined to comment. Vrbo never supplied Amex Travel, so it lost no revenue, but Expedia had begun adding Vrbo rentals to its B2B network in 2025 for partners such as Alaska Airlines, Delta, and Revolut — and Amex is now closed to that inventory. The exclusivity runs both ways: Airbnb can’t supply short-term rentals to other partners, leaving Expedia’s 75,000 B2B partners open to Vrbo. The deal also goes deeper than Airbnb’s airline tie-ups with Qantas, Delta, and British Airways, which mostly route members to Airbnb.com through a tracked link; here, card members search listings inside Amex Travel while Airbnb closes the sale and keeps payment, messaging, and support. That puts Airbnb inside the card-points channel Expedia has cited as central to its B2B unit, which grew gross bookings 21% in the second quarter of 2026, its 20th straight quarter of double-digit growth.