Why Clarity Matters More Than Strategy in Times of Crisis – Insights from Airbnb’s Germany Lead

Kathrin Anselm is Managing Director at Airbnb GmbH – responsible for Central and Eastern Europe, including Germany, one of the three largest travel markets in the world. Her career took her from Oliver Wyman through Vodafone, ProSieben, Sat.1 and Rocket Internet to Deliveroo – across the full breadth of the B2C world, from traditional media through eCommerce to the marketplace models she has specialised in over recent years. Joining Airbnb in mid-2019, she experienced the biggest crisis in the company's history just months after her start, and led the region through that crisis, its recovery, and sustained growth. She speaks on international stages such as WEF Davos, represents Airbnb in national and international media, and has been named among the most influential women in Germany by Handelsblatt, Forbes and W&V.

With Oliver Büscher, Partner at Morgan Philips Executive Search, she speaks about leadership principles, “touch grass” and the return of rural travel – above all among Gen Z – and why strong growth ambitions and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive.

Kathrin, Airbnb has always stood for change – not just in travel, but in our understanding of closeness, freedom and community. When you look back on your own journey and your role at Airbnb: what values and beliefs shape your approach to leadership most strongly today?

Looking back, I'm convinced: my understanding of leadership was shaped less in good times than in crises – and I learned more in the matrix than in the line.

At Airbnb, it happened just months after I joined, in January 2020. Strategy and budgets were in place, an IPO was within reach. Eight weeks later, Airbnb had lost 80% of its business globally. Airbnb founder Brian Chesky kept reminding us: A crisis is a terrible chance to waste. We used the crisis to refocus the company on its core business, to identify new travel patterns in the data before anyone else saw them, and to strengthen the trust of our host and guest community. Radical clarity about the why beats any strategy. When people in a crisis know what they're working for – not just what they need to do – they don't just hold on, they innovate in entirely new ways.

I “grew up” in line organisations, but have been working in the matrix for some time now. Here you often lead without direct authority – which means a clear vision that convinces and inspires the most diverse stakeholders matters even more. And the ability to push through when there are many competing priorities. Respect and empathy for the people around you take on a new significance. Today I would even say: leading in the matrix is more demanding than leading in the line. Those who succeed in the matrix have learned to persuade rather than instruct.

Having conviction, for me, means taking uncomfortable positions and explaining them patiently with data and facts. Staying intellectually flexible and pivoting when you realise the path you've taken isn't the right one – firm on the goal, open on the route. And: allowing vulnerability. Empathy and authority are not opposites – they depend on each other. Life happens: illness, caregiving, personal crises. The more I have acknowledged that – in myself and in others – the more authentic and effective I have become as a leader. Perhaps the most important and most beautiful thing I've learned.

As Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe, you operate at the intersection of technology, consumer behaviour and social change. What developments beyond the travel industry – in the way we work, live or value our time – are currently shaping how people travel most strongly, in your view?

The most interesting change is not happening in the travel industry – it's happening in the minds of an entire generation about what connection and time are really worth.

73% of Gen Z feel lonely sometimes or permanently. They are the most connected generation that has ever lived, and simultaneously the loneliest (Forbes). That's not a contradiction. It's the direct consequence of a world in which permanent online presence has replaced genuine closeness. The 2025 "Jugend in Deutschland" trend study shows: the most important sources of meaning for this generation are family (59%), partnership (36%) and friendships (30%). Travel follows these values directly.

We see this clearly in our Airbnb booking data: group travel is more popular with Gen Z than with any other demographic group. They travel with friends, with their "chosen family", multiple generations under one roof. Not to tick something off a list – but to be truly present.

And 67% of Gen Z globally prefer to spend money on experiences rather than products (YPulse). That changes not just how this generation travels – it changes what consumption means altogether.

You have identified a clear travel trend for 2026: the desire for digital detox, often combined with stays in rural, quiet regions. Why do you think this need for retreat, nature and conscious simplicity is gaining such momentum right now?

Being reachable is no longer a status symbol – for many it means exhaustion. Digital detox sounds like a wellness trend, but behind it lies something more fundamental: a longing for places where you can truly switch off. "Touch grass" is what the 18-to-25-year-olds call it.

What fascinates me most: it's not older generations leading this trend – it's the generation that grew up always being online. The so-called incoming travel generations, Gen Z and young Millennials, are fundamentally changing how people travel. In Germany, for example, searches on Airbnb for nature trips grew twice as fast among Gen Z between 2023 and 2025 as among the general population – +75% vs. +35%. And their motivation is clear: reduce stress, discover new places, spend real time with friends and their "chosen family". Away from optimisation, towards experience.

The shift is profound: almost two thirds of all bookings by Germans on Airbnb now go to rural regions. Airbnb didn't invent this trend – but we were able to make it possible, because we have hosts in these regions and continuously develop the product experience to support it.

In Germany, there are five times more Airbnb listings in rural areas than in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg combined. This generation knows what it's looking for. And it finds it – often far off the beaten track.

Airbnb is built on personal encounters and local hosts. What role do trust, closeness and community play in travel experiences that are not just consumed but felt to be genuinely enriching?

Airbnb is an unusual company in many ways – but perhaps the most unusual thing is this: our entire business model is based on trust between strangers. Every booking is at its core a decision to trust someone you don't know. And it works – in over 220 countries and regions, with more than 5.5 million hosts worldwide, and over 2.5 billion guest arrivals since we were founded.

What impresses me most is not the size of that number. It's what lies behind it. The vast majority – around 80% – of hosts on Airbnb have just one listing. That's not an investment portfolio. That's a personal decision to welcome strangers. For many it's also an economic reality: around 30% of German hosts use their earnings to cover rising living costs. That changes the quality of the encounter. Someone who shares their home is present – not anonymous.

That's exactly what creates the kind of experiences that stay with you. Not the perfect furnishings. But the conversation in the morning, the recommendation for the restaurant no tourist ever finds, the feeling of having truly arrived somewhere. That's the core of why Airbnb is a love brand for travellers. Not just because of the product – but because of the human connections it makes possible.

You often talk about the future not simply happening but needing to be actively shaped. What does that mean for you concretely in your day-to-day life as Managing Director: where do you consciously say no, in order to make the right things possible in the long run?

A great question, and I feel a little caught out – because there's definitely still room for improvement.

I say no to everything that keeps me operationally busy without moving things forward strategically. That sounds easier than it is. In a role like mine there are a hundred reasons every day to get lost in details – meetings, requests, short-term firefighting. My self-check: if I look back at my calendar over the last four weeks and can't identify what I've moved forward strategically, then somewhere I said yes when I shouldn't have.

The no that I find genuinely hard is the one to perfect preparation. Sometimes good enough is enough. The attempt to control everything often costs more than it's worth – that's a lesson I took from the crisis of 2020. We didn't know what was coming. We decided based on what we knew, and we moved.

To close: companies like Airbnb shape not just markets but also lifestyles. What responsibility does that create, in your view – towards people, places and the way we travel and live in the future?

For me, responsibility and growth ambitions are not opposites – they depend on each other. When millions of people use a platform to decide where to travel and where to stay, that has real consequences for communities, for local economies, for places. We take that seriously.

First, actively directing tourism to where it is needed and helps to redistribute travel flows. In Germany, we have launched a €1 million fund together with the German Tourism Association DTV to support initiatives that bring travellers to rural regions – to places that benefit economically from more tourism but rarely find themselves in the spotlight.

Second, creating tangible economic participation. The typical host in rural Germany earned around €4,300 in additional annual income through hosting on Airbnb in 2025. Around 30% of German hosts use this income to cover rising living costs. These are not statistics – these are people who have turned a home into a piece of financial security.

Third, transparency and partnership with cities and municipalities. We share comprehensive data with over 50 German cities through the Airbnb City Portal. We welcome the EU Short-Term Rental regulation that came into force in May 2026 – it creates uniform standards for registration and data transparency that we believe are right.

I'm proud of what Airbnb achieves in rural areas in Germany: economically, culturally, for hosts who have turned a passion into an income. For me, responsibility means actively shaping that impact – and not leaving it to chance.