Airbnb and Amex: What You Need to Know and How to Show Up

Airbnb homes can now be booked through American Express Travel, but the homes Amex shows are a tightly filtered slice of Airbnb. With roughly 9 million available listings on Airbnb as of September 2026 and just over a million showing up on Amex, the question for hosts is how to show up for a high-value guest looking to earn and spend loyalty points on lodging.

I pulled about 5,000 Amex listings across four markets and matched them against AirDNA’s data. To appear on Amex Travel, a home has to be an entire place, rated at least 4.85, with at least 10 reviews. In practice it also needs a Guest Favorite badge or a Superhost host.

Clearing that bar still isn’t enough. Only about 63% of listings that pass make it onto Amex, because most of the decision happens at the level of the host account. In the markets I measured, that leaves roughly one in six bookable Airbnb homes visible to Amex cardholders.

Below I keep two things apart: what Airbnb and Amex have said publicly, and what we found ourselves. Then I cover what hosts can do about it.

Key takeaways

• Eligible U.S. Card Members can book more than 1 million Airbnb homes on Amex Travel, with prepaid stays capped at 27 nights.
• Every non-Luxe listing we found on Amex was an entire place rated 4.85 or higher with at least 10 reviews.
• About 63% of listings that pass those rules appear on Amex, and the host account’s overall rating predicts most of the rest.
• Only Airbnb Luxe homes qualify for the Platinum Lodging Credit, about 1% of the homes on Amex.

What Airbnb and Amex Have Confirmed

The partnership was announced on October 23, 2026, and Amex’s terms took effect a day earlier. Everything in this table comes from the announcement, the Amex Travel terms, or answers Airbnb gave us directly.

Skift has also reported that Airbnb is now the only vacation rental supplier on Amex Travel, and that Amex closed its own Select Homes + Retreats product. Neither company has said how Amex is paid, whether hosts can see which bookings came through Amex, or whether hosts can opt out.

Amex Shows Entire Homes Rated 4.85 or Higher With 10+ Reviews

None of this section comes from Airbnb or Amex. It’s what I found by searching Amex Travel as a cardholder and matching every listing to AirDNA’s data.

The listing rules

Across about 5,000 Amex listings in North Georgia, the Vail area, the Santa Rosa Beach area and Nashville, I didn’t find a single non-Luxe listing rated below 4.85 or with fewer than 10 reviews. The cutoffs are sharp. Among listings that otherwise qualify, about 3% rated 4.84 are on Amex, against about 45% at 4.85. At 9 reviews it’s about 4%; at 10, about 44%.

Applied to Airbnb’s whole worldwide supply, those four rules leave about 2.1 million of roughly 9.1 million available listings, a bit over one in five. At the 59% to 72% inclusion rates we measured, that works out to roughly 1.2 to 1.5 million homes on Amex, which lines up with Amex’s “more than one million.”

The host account decides most of the rest

About 7,400 listings in Vail, Santa Rosa Beach and Nashville were open for our dates and passed all four rules. About 63% of them were on Amex. The missing ones cluster by host account. Of hosts with five or more qualifying listings, 53 had none on Amex, while 52 had 80% or more.

The best predictor we found is the review-weighted rating across a host’s whole Airbnb portfolio.

Superhosts with a portfolio rating above 4.90 were in about 95% of the time. The switch seems to sit on each Airbnb account. One large management brand had one account with nothing on Amex and two others with nearly everything on it.

This is a stand-in for whatever Airbnb measures, and inclusion climbs gradually with it, with no single cutoff. I also found 11 accounts rated 4.85 or higher with nothing on Amex at all, which looks more like an opt-out or a partner decision than a quality call.

What made no difference

We tested 111 listing attributes in AirDNA’s data. Once you account for the rules above and host quality, almost none of them adds anything. Instant book, cancellation policy, price, cleaning fee, pets, bedrooms, photo count, description length and license status showed no effect on whether a listing appeared.

A few soft effects showed up. Hosts with response rates under about 89% got in about half the time, against 81% to 87% for those above 94%. Accuracy, check-in, communication, cleanliness and value sub-ratings each showed a gradual slope. The location rating made no difference.

How much of Airbnb this is

Counting all bookable Airbnb homes for our dates, about 15% were on Amex in the Vail search area and about 17% in the Santa Rosa Beach area. That’s consistent with Amex’s 1 million homes against Airbnb’s roughly 9 million active listings worldwide.

Only Airbnb Luxe Homes Qualify for the Amex Lodging Credit

Airbnb confirmed that the Lodging Credit only applies to Luxe homes. It didn’t give a count. By AirDNA’s count there are about 10,600 Luxe listings worldwide, so roughly 1% of the homes on Amex carry the benefit with the most dollars attached.

Luxe plays by different rules. In our data, Luxe listings show up on Amex with ratings as low as 4.0, with a handful of reviews, and in a few cases with none. In the Vail and Santa Rosa Beach areas, AirDNA flags about 440 Luxe listings. About 72 were bookable for our dates, and about 60 of those were on Amex. As far as we can tell, Luxe is close to fully included, with no rating or review floor.

A Platinum member can spend the same $300 at Fine Hotels + Resorts, so Luxe homes now compete with luxury hotels for it inside Amex’s own storefront. Amex’s January change helps Luxe. A one-night hotel stay was the easiest way to use up a $300 credit, and from 2027 hotels need two nights, the same as Luxe.

How to Get Your Airbnb on Amex Travel

Hosts can’t apply, and Airbnb hasn’t described any setting that turns Amex on. Getting in comes down to guest reviews across your whole account. Here’s what I’d do, based on what we found.

1. Get every listing to 4.85 and 10 reviews. Both cutoffs are exact. A new listing rated 5.0 with eight reviews can’t be booked through Amex, so the first 10 reviews matter more than they used to.
2. Look at the rating across your whole account. Host portfolio rating was the strongest predictor we found. If you manage several homes in one account, a few weak listings may be holding back the strong ones. Airbnb hasn’t confirmed this, so treat it as our read of the data.
3. Earn Guest Favorite or hold on to Superhost. Almost every Amex listing has one or the other, and Superhosts with portfolios above 4.90 were in about 95% of the time.
4. Watch the sub-ratings guests feel. Accuracy, check-in and communication all slope upward with inclusion. Keeping your response rate above about 94% helps too.
5. Skip the changes that don’t move it. Discounting, switching on instant book or loosening your cancellation policy made no measurable difference to whether a listing appeared.
6. Check whether you’re in. Only a logged-in Card Member can search Amex Travel, and Airbnb doesn’t give hosts a view of it. The simplest test is a cardholder searching your dates and area.
7. Know what changes for an Amex guest. They prepay in full, your one-off discounts may not apply, and your cancellation policy, minimum stay and house rules still do. Stays are capped at 27 nights, so monthly bookings won’t come through this channel.

For homes at the Luxe level, Luxe is the only way onto the Lodging Credit. Airbnb runs its own vetting for Luxe, separate from everything above.

FAQs

Can you book Airbnb homes with Amex Travel?

Yes. Since October 2026, eligible U.S. Card Members can book Airbnb homes on AmexTravel.com and the Amex Travel App, and Amex says more than 1 million homes are available. Stays are prepaid in full and capped at 27 nights, and guests message the host and get support through Airbnb.

How do I get my Airbnb listed on Amex Travel?

Hosts can’t apply. In AirDNA’s research, every non-Luxe listing on Amex was an entire place rated 4.85 or higher with at least 10 reviews, and almost all had a Guest Favorite badge or a Superhost host. Among listings that pass those rules, the host’s rating across the whole account was the strongest predictor of inclusion.

Do Airbnb bookings earn Amex points?

Yes, when the stay is prepaid through Amex Travel. Platinum and Business Platinum Card Members earn 5X Membership Rewards points, and other eligible Membership Rewards cards earn 2X.

Can I use the Amex Platinum Lodging Credit on Airbnb?

Only on Airbnb Luxe. The Lodging Credit, paid as up to $300 twice a year, covers prepaid Luxe stays of two nights or more booked through Amex Travel. By AirDNA’s count there are about 10,600 Luxe listings worldwide, roughly 1% of the homes on Amex.

How many Airbnb listings are on Amex Travel?

Amex says more than 1 million. Applying the listing rules AirDNA observed to Airbnb’s worldwide supply leaves about 2.1 million eligible listings, and at the inclusion rates we measured that works out to roughly 1.2 to 1.5 million homes on Amex.