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Airbnb·Product Manager·Onsite - Product Sense / Strategy·Intermediate

Intermediate
May 2026

Summary

Interviewed for a PM role at Airbnb and got a product sense question about dining experiences. Pretty open-ended, which I wasn't fully ready for.

Questions Asked (1)

Q1

How would you improve someone's dining experience?

Product Sense & IdeationAdaptability & Ambiguity
Author's notes

I fumbled the opening a bit because I jumped straight into solutions before really scoping the problem.

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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Start by clarifying the scope: which dining experience (e.g., Airbnb Experiences, in-home dining, restaurant)? Then pick a specific user segment and map their journey to identify pain points. Prioritize one high-impact problem and propose a solution, explaining how you'd measure success and iterate.

Pro tip: Anchor your answer in Airbnb's mission and business model—show how improving dining experiences can drive guest loyalty, host earnings, and platform growth. Also, acknowledge trade-offs and potential risks to demonstrate product maturity.

1. Clarify the Scope

Ask clarifying questions to define which dining experience (e.g., Airbnb Experiences, restaurant recommendations, in-home dining) and which user segment (guests, hosts, local businesses) to focus on.

2. Identify User Pain Points

Choose a specific user segment and map their end-to-end dining journey to uncover key pain points, such as discovery, booking, personalization, or post-dining engagement.

3. Prioritize a Problem

Select one high-impact pain point based on frequency, severity, and alignment with Airbnb's strategic goals. Explain your prioritization criteria.

4. Propose a Solution

Brainstorm potential solutions, then describe one in detail—including key features, how it addresses the pain point, and how it leverages Airbnb's unique assets (e.g., host community, trust, local expertise).

5. Define Success Metrics and Iterate

Outline how you would measure success (e.g., booking conversion, guest satisfaction, host retention) and describe a plan for testing, learning, and iterating.

Key Points to Mention

  • User segmentation and journey mapping to uncover unmet needs
  • Prioritization frameworks (e.g., impact vs. effort, RICE) to choose the most valuable problem
  • Leveraging Airbnb's unique strengths: host community, local experiences, trust and safety
  • Business impact: increasing bookings, host earnings, and guest loyalty
  • Metrics for success: NPS, booking rate, repeat usage, host satisfaction
  • Iterative approach: MVP, A/B testing, and feedback loops

AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.