in business,

in government,

in the media.

What are you doing to increase trust in Airbnb?

It's a great question. Thanks so much.

Like you said, there is this crisis of distrust right now.

People are trusting less in these main institutions,

but they're trusting in each other more.

And Airbnb was designed specifically to build that trust.

We went back and we looked through how we can leverage that new phenomenon,

and that's when we started to come up with the...

It's really about the hierarchy needs.

And we need to continue to facilitate, and build that trust.

So what does that mean? Because I know you're actually using technology to facilitate it.

Yeah, absolutely.

So first and foremost we realize that people need to know that they're gonna be safe.

They have to feel safe.

So we do a number of things to use that technology to do that.

Like we risk assess each and every reservation,

we run global watch list checks against all of our users worldwide,

we background check hosts and guests in the U.S.

But just being safe isn't enough.

We're using this technology to also build connections.

There are detailed profiles,

there is a messaging system where you can learn more about each other,

and there are reviews where you can look at previous history.

And on top of that, we know that people need to know that they're not alone.

Airbnb is there for them.

So if they get to a listing and it's not as what they wanted, it's not as advertised,

they've got someone to reach out to.

You have a national security background.

You were a Deputy Chief of Staff for the CIA during the Obama administration.

I'm curious how that experience informs what you're bringing to Airbnb,

and how you might complement something that Brian Chesky might think.

Yeah, I know. That's a great question.

Airbnb, the tech sector sharing economy is filled with some of the most optimistic people in the world .

Exactly.

Brilliant, and also very optimistic.

I come from a background and bring a very different light to that.

And I'm way more cynical.

And that's because of some of the previous experience that I've had.

But I think a healthy dose of cynicism matched with the right optimism and brilliance

that most of our engineers and project managers bring to the table is a really good partnership.

The hotel lobbying groups are upping their attacks on Airbnb.

There's one recent ad connecting the platform with terrorists.

How do you respond to that?

It's disgraceful. It's disrespectful and despicable.

I know people who have lost their lives.

People have fought very hard for this country and to have an issue like that politicized,

to make a business point or to continue to price gouge their consumers,

is very hurtful.

Safety is the number one priority of Airbnb.

Trust is a fundamental currency in the sharing economy and is the thing we focus on the most.

So we do a number of things like background checks,

like global watch list checks.

The hotels don't even do any of that.