Yes, the Airbnb referral program still runs in Malaysia. Malaysia is on Airbnb's eligible list for the guest referral, which pays you travel credit, not cash, after a new friend completes a first trip. A separate host referral pays when someone you invite becomes a new host and completes a first booking.
Most pages that rank for "Airbnb referral code Malaysia" are coupon lists or forum threads with someone's link pasted in. They rarely explain the rules underneath: the minimum booking, the 180-day clock, the 10-a-year cap, the 15% limit on how much credit one booking can use. This article goes through those from Airbnb's own terms, read on 8 November 2026, and then compares them with a direct-booking referral.
We should say where we stand. We run homestays in Johor Bahru and Desaru, more than 100 units, and we run a referral program of our own for our direct booking page. So we have an interest, and we will show you where Airbnb's program is the better choice as well as where ours is.
Does Airbnb still have a referral program in Malaysia?
It does. Airbnb's help article on the Guest Referral Program, last updated 3 February 2026, lists the eligible countries of residence as Brazil, mainland China, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and the Republic of Korea. If you live in Malaysia and meet the conditions below, you can invite people.
You may have seen older pages saying the Airbnb guest referral "has ended". Those notices are from earlier years and do not match the current terms. Go by what the Referral section of your own Airbnb account shows today.
The host referral is a different program with different terms (last updated 22 June 2026). Its eligible locations are on a separate Airbnb page, and when we read it we could not confirm whether Malaysia is on the list. Check the "Refer a host" page inside your account before you count on it.
How does the Airbnb guest referral work?
Here are the rules as Airbnb writes them, in one table.
| Rule | What Airbnb's terms say |
|---|---|
| Who can invite | You must have completed at least one Airbnb booking and finished identity verification |
| Who can be invited | Someone of legal age with no existing Airbnb account, who signs up through your invitation link |
| What your friend gets | A coupon for their first booking. Its value depends on the booking total, and Airbnb shows it in the invitation, not as a fixed number on the terms page |
| Minimum booking in Malaysia | RM200, counting the cleaning fee but not service fees, taxes or add-ons |
| Time limit | The qualifying booking must be made within 180 days of your friend signing up, accepted, paid and completed without cancellation |
| What you get | Travel credit "in the amount specified in the Dashboard" |
| How long the credit lasts | 1 year from the date it is issued |
| How much credit one booking can use | No more than 15% of that booking's total payment |
| Yearly cap | Rewards for up to 10 successful referrals per calendar year |
Two rules in that table catch most people.
The first is the 15% cap. Your credit can never pay for a whole stay. On a booking with a total of RM600, at most RM90 of credit can be used, whatever your balance is. If you collect a lot of credit and only book small trips, some of it can expire unused after a year.
The second is "new account through your link". A friend who already has an Airbnb account, even one they never used, does not count. A friend who signs up first and asks for your link afterwards does not count either.
What does the Airbnb host referral pay?
The host referral pays you when someone you invite lists a home for the first time and completes a first booking. The terms say:
| Rule | What Airbnb's terms say |
|---|---|
| Who counts | New hosts only. Listings created by current or former Airbnb hosts earn nothing |
| Qualifying booking for a home | At least US$100 before taxes and other fees, accepted, paid through Airbnb and completed |
| Time limit | Within 180 days of the new host starting the listing from your link |
| Bookings that do not count | Bookings by the new host's family or friends, or where the listing shares an address with you |
| Listings that do not count | Private rooms, shared rooms and hotel rooms unless stated otherwise, and relisted old listings |
| Reward | A range that depends on location, fixed when the new host creates the listing. No standard Malaysian amount is published in the terms |
| How it is paid | Cash to your payout method or travel credit, within 30 days of the qualifying booking being completed |
| Cap | Rewards for the first 25 home hosts you refer |
Airbnb also runs short promotions with higher host-referral rewards in particular cities. The ones we found in 2026 were for other countries and have ended, so we have not quoted their amounts here.
What do people get wrong about Airbnb referral codes?
- Using a link from a coupon site. The friend reward comes from the person whose link you use, and the referrer's reward goes to them. That is allowed, but if you have a friend who travels, use their link instead and the credit stays between people you know.
- Signing up first. The link has to be used to create the account. Afterwards is too late.
- Booking too small. A first stay under RM200, cleaning included, does not qualify in Malaysia.
- Expecting cash from the guest referral. It is travel credit, and only for Airbnb bookings.
- Forgetting about tax. Airbnb's host referral terms say participants are responsible for their own tax. Our note on referral commission and tax in Malaysia explains which records to keep. That is general information, not tax advice.
How is a direct-booking referral different?
A direct-booking referral is run by a host or operator for their own website, so the rules are theirs, not a platform's. Ours works like this. Every rule here comes from how our system actually works:
| Rule | Our direct-booking referral |
|---|---|
| What you earn | 5% of the room price the guest paid, as a cash commission. The cleaning fee is not included |
| When it counts | On the check-in date. Cancelled bookings and no-shows earn RM0 |
| How a booking is linked to you | Your friend clicks your link and books within 7 days; the last referral link clicked wins |
| Every booking or only the first | Every booking a friend makes through your link, not only their first |
| What your friend gets | RM20 off a room price of at least RM150, once per account, when they sign in and verify their phone and type your code |
| Booking yourself | Never counts |
| Getting paid | Withdraw once you have at least RM50 available. Each withdrawal is checked by a person, so we do not promise a number of days |
Here is a worked example. The numbers are made up to show the arithmetic. A friend books two nights at RM180 a night, so the room price is RM360. Your friend types your code and pays RM340 for the room. Commission is worked out on the room price the guest actually paid, so yours is 5% of RM340, which is RM17, in cash once they check in. Without the code it would be 5% of RM360, RM18. If the same friend comes back three more times in a year through your link, that is four commissions, not one.
Airbnb referral or direct-booking referral: which pays more?
It depends on who your friends are and where they stay.
| Your situation | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Friends who have never used Airbnb and travel to many places | Airbnb's guest referral. The shelf is the whole world and your friend gets a first-booking coupon |
| Someone you know is about to list a home for the first time | Airbnb's host referral, if your location is eligible |
| Friends or family who come to Johor Bahru or Desaru again and again | A direct-booking referral. It pays on every stay, in cash, with no yearly cap of 10 |
| Friends who already have Airbnb accounts | Airbnb's guest referral pays nothing for them; a direct-booking referral still can |
Now the weak points of ours, because they matter.
| Point | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Small shelf | Only the units on our direct booking page in Johor Bahru and Desaru. Airbnb covers almost everywhere |
| Platform bookings earn nothing | If your friend books one of our units on Airbnb or Agoda instead, our program pays you nothing |
| RM17 is small | On a short stay, one Airbnb referral credit may be worth more to you than one of our commissions. Airbnb's dashboard shows its amount; compare before choosing |
| Attribution is best effort | A booking never fails because of it, but if the link is not recorded, the commission is not added back automatically. Eight reasons a referral does not count |
| Payout is checked by hand | No promised number of days |
Nothing in how our program works stops you holding an Airbnb link as well. Plenty of people use both: Airbnb for friends going abroad, a direct-booking link for friends coming to JB. For the general difference between these kinds of programs, read referral program vs affiliate program. If you are weighing a bigger platform's affiliate scheme, our look at the Agoda affiliate program in Malaysia does the same comparison.
How do I start with a direct-booking referral?
Sign in on our site and open the Refer & earn page; your code and link are there. Then read how to share the link so people actually book and how much a referral really earns. If your friend's code is rejected at checkout, every error message is explained here. And if your friend wants to know why booking direct can cost less than a platform in the first place, send them our fee breakdown of booking direct vs Airbnb.
Airbnb's terms change from time to time. Everything about Airbnb above was read from its help centre on 8 November 2026; check the Referral section of your own account for today's amounts.