How Airbnb interviews work
Airbnb's interview loop for engineering roles consists of a recruiter screen, a technical phone screen (coding), and a virtual on-site of five interviews: two coding rounds, one system design round, one cross-functional collaboration round, and one values interview. For product and design roles, the loop includes a product case interview, a portfolio review, and multiple cross-functional rounds. The values interview is a distinguishing feature of Airbnb: it is a full interview round dedicated entirely to cultural alignment and is weighted equally with technical performance.
Airbnb's core values and the values interview
Airbnb's six core values are: Champion the Mission, Be a Host, Embrace the Adventure, Be a Cereal Entrepreneur (referencing their founding story), Simplify, and Every Frame Matters. The values interview assesses: genuine alignment with Airbnb's mission (belonging), how you treat people inside and outside the company, your approach to ambiguity and change, and whether you pay attention to the details that create great experiences.
"Tell me about a time you created a sense of belonging for someone." This is the most Airbnb-specific values question. A strong answer: a specific situation where you noticed someone felt excluded or unseen, what you did about it, and what the outcome was. This can be from work, volunteering, or community contexts. What the interviewer is looking for: genuine empathy, proactive action rather than passive awareness, and specificity. Vague answers about "always being inclusive" score poorly.
Technical interview questions
Airbnb coding rounds are at LeetCode medium to hard difficulty with a preference for clean, readable code over clever one-liners. Airbnb engineering culture values maintainability, so interviewers pay attention to variable naming, code structure, and whether you consider edge cases unprompted. System design at Airbnb focuses on real platform challenges: design the Airbnb search and ranking system, design the messaging system between guests and hosts, design the review system with fraud detection. For each, show you think about the two-sided marketplace dynamics: what looks good to a guest may not be what a host needs.
Behavioral questions and strong answers
"Tell me about a time you had to simplify something complex for others." Simplify is a core value at Airbnb. Strong answer: a time you made a technical concept accessible to non-technical stakeholders, reduced a complicated process to its essential steps, or cut scope without losing the thing that mattered. Show your judgment about what to keep and what to remove.
"Describe a time you went above and beyond to create a great experience for someone." This is "Be a Host" in disguise. Strong answer: something specific and genuine. Hosting analogy: a host who notices a guest's birthday on their profile and leaves a small celebration is more compelling than one who provides a clean apartment and nothing more. Apply the same logic to your professional example.
How to prepare
Read about Airbnb's founding story: Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia putting air mattresses in their apartment, creating "Air Bed and Breakfast" in 2008. The founding story is referenced explicitly in the core values ("Be a Cereal Entrepreneur" refers to the Obama O's and Cap'n McCain's cereals they sold to fund the company). Knowing this history signals cultural preparation. Also use Airbnb as a guest or host if possible — candidates who have personal Airbnb experience give more grounded answers to product and design questions.