Grind 75 vs. LeetCode patterns: Best for Airbnb coding interviews

Airbnb has transformed the way people travel by turning spare bedrooms into global experiences. That kind of innovation comes from engineers who don’t just solve problems, they solve them with creativity, adaptability, and speed. In an Airbnb interview, your ability to recognize a problem’s structure and quickly apply the right approach often matters more than the number of LeetCode questions that you’ve memorized.

Preparing for Airbnb’s technical interviews is never about luck. It’s about using the right roadmap. Many candidates start with Blind 75 or Grind 75, given that they’re popular lists of must-do problems, while others prefer understanding LeetCode patterns for a more structured approach. But, which strategy actually prepares you better for Airbnb’s interviews? And, how do Airbnb’s own top 62 coding questions fit into the equation?

In this blog, I’ll compare Grind 75 and Airbnb’s top 62 coding problems against the 28 LeetCode patterns from Grokking the Coding Interview Patterns. You’ll see where curated lists give you coverage, where they leave gaps, and how a tailored Airbnb prep roadmap can keep your practice focused and efficient. This can be achieved with dedication, while giving you the confidence to stand out as the kind of engineer Airbnb is looking for.

Sneak peek: How we evaluated Airbnb interview prep strategies

Before choosing between Grind 75 and LeetCode patterns to prepare for Airbnb, I wanted a clear, measurable way to compare them. Simply saying “this list feels stronger” is subjective. Instead, I used a scoring system based on a consistent rubric introduced in the first blog of this series: Grind 75 vs. LeetCode Patterns: Most Effective for Interviews?.

The rubric: For any given coding pattern to be considered well covered, the prep set must include at least one easy, two medium, and one hard coding problem. This 1–2–1 balance ensures that you get both breadth and depth of practice for each pattern.

To quantify progress, I assigned a maximum of 15 points per pattern (1 point for an easy problem, 4 for a medium problem, and 6 for a hard problem), distributed across the 28 core patterns. This means the ultimate benchmark is 420 points, which represents a complete, well-rounded mastery of all patterns. Any prep approach can then be measured against this total to see how close it gets to full coverage.

By applying this rubric and score model to Grind 75 and Airbnb’s top 62 questions, we can see exactly how much each contributes toward Airbnb interview prep.

The score comparison above makes one thing clear: neither Grind 75 (41%) nor Airbnb’s top 62 (40%) alone get you close to the 420-point benchmark. Yet the Airbnb-focused roadmap scores 271 points (65%). You might be wondering: what exactly is this Airbnb-focused roadmap, and why does it perform better than both Grind 75 and Airbnb’s own top 62 questions? That’s exactly what we’ll explore in the next sections.

Grind 75, Airbnb top 62, and LeetCode patterns: Quick overview#

Grind 75 is one of the most widely used curated lists for coding interviews. It includes 75 handpicked problems from LeetCode that cover popular topics such as Arrays, Strings, Trees, Dynamic Programming, and Graphs.

Airbnb top 62 is an Airbnb-specific coding prep list, built from actual interview experiences and community data on LeetCode. They give you a targeted view of the problems Airbnb has historically asked.

LeetCode patterns group questions into 28 reusable problem-solving frameworks, such as Sliding Window, Two Pointers, Backtracking, Dynamic Programming, Graph Traversals, and more. These patterns represent the core building blocks behind most interview questions. Once you learn how a pattern works, you can apply it to countless variations, even ones that you’ve never seen before.

Is Grind 75 all you need for Airbnb coding interviews?#

No. Grind 75 was created a few years ago with FAANG interviews in mind. It’s an excellent starter list if your goal is to cover a broad set of fundamentals, but it wasn’t designed with Airbnb’s unique interview style in mind. Airbnb operates in a very different product domain, where engineers often solve real-world problems involving scheduling, matching, and optimization. These problem types don’t always map neatly to the relatively general list like Grind 75.

The tech landscape has also changed dramatically since Grind 75 first came out. In 2025, companies have different problems or preferences and expect different solutions. To see this in effect, if we look at Airbnb’s 10 most frequently asked coding problems, 8 of them don’t even exist in Grind 75. This gap is likely to increase further.

Additionally, the rise of AI tools has made brute-force memorization of 75 questions far less effective. Interviewers now respond by introducing novel twists or entirely new problem variations, making adaptability more important than recall.

How do LeetCode patterns help with the Airbnb coding interview prep?#

If Grind 75 leaves gaps, the natural question is: how do you fill them? This is where LeetCode patterns come in. Instead of focusing on a fixed list of problems, patterns train you to recognize the underlying structures behind Airbnb’s interview questions.

For example, Airbnb interviews often emphasize interval scheduling, matching, and optimization problems. These map directly to patterns like Merge Intervals, Greedy Techniques, Graph Traversals, and Top K Elements. Once you know the pattern, you can solve not only the original question, but also any variation that Airbnb’s engineers might ask you.

Patterns also give you adaptability. While memorizing solutions to 75 problems might feel safe, it doesn’t prepare you for Airbnb’s creative twists. By contrast, knowing how to apply patterns like Sliding Window, Dynamic Programming, or Backtracking ensures that you can handle unseen problems with confidence.

Overview of LeetCode patterns for Airbnb coding interviews#

There are 28 core coding patterns that form the base of technical interviews, and Airbnb is no exception. To simplify your prep, I’ve organized these patterns into four categories based on how they tend to appear in Airbnb’s coding questions.

• Must-know patterns: These are considered the building blocks of coding interviews. They form the foundation of problem solving, and are almost guaranteed to show up in some form during Airbnb interviews.

• Very common patterns: These patterns appear frequently in Airbnb’s interview problems. Understanding them gives you a strong advantage.

• Solid but situational patterns: These patterns don’t appear in every interview but are highly valuable when they do.

• Finishing-line helpers: These patterns are less common, but still worth knowing if you want complete coverage. They ensure there are no gaps in your preparation, even for edge-case scenarios.

While Airbnb tends to emphasize some patterns more than others, it’s still important to practice across all 28. This ensures that when an unexpected variation or tricky constraint appears, you’ll already have the right problem-solving framework ready to use.

Airbnb coding interview roadmap#

Neither Grind 75 nor Airbnb’s top 62 alone is enough, but together, and guided by LeetCode patterns, they create a powerful roadmap. The idea isn’t to solve hundreds of problems randomly. It’s to sequence your prep in a way that maximizes coverage, minimizes redundancy, and keeps you focused on Airbnb’s actual interview style.

Here’s how I recommend structuring it.

1. Start with the overlap: The problems that appear in both Grind 75 and Airbnb’s top 62 give you an immediate head start. They strengthen the most common patterns and help you build confidence without overextending your effort.

2. Move to Airbnb-only questions: Next, cover the Airbnb-specific problems that don’t appear in Grind 75. This ensures that you practice the types of questions Airbnb actually favors, and fills in coverage gaps.

3. Expand with the rest of Grind 75: Once you’ve tackled Airbnb-specific problems, completing the remaining Grind 75 questions fills in the missing fundamentals. This step rounds out your preparation so that all 28 patterns get exposure, not just the ones Airbnb asks most frequently.

4. Validate with pattern coverage: Finally, map your progress against the 28 patterns. The goal isn’t just to tick off problems, but to confirm that you’ve practiced each pattern at multiple difficulty levels.

As you follow this Airbnb-focused roadmap, keep measuring your progress against the 1–2–1 rubric. It’s the easiest way to stay efficient and make sure every hour of practice pushes you closer to complete pattern coverage.

Starting smart: Overlap between Grind 75 and Airbnb top 62#

The overlap between Grind 75 and Airbnb’s top 62 is the smartest set to begin. These problems already represent patterns that both sets consider important, so by solving them first, you build momentum without extra effort. This step gives you immediate impact: strengthening core skills while saving time by avoiding duplicate practice later.

Let’s see which problems are common to both Grind 75 and Airbnb’s top 62:

The comparison above shows that 12 problems overlap between Grind 75 and Airbnb’s top 62. That is a good number to begin with. Now, let’s see what patterns are covered in this set and how well each is represented according to the 1–2–1 rubric.

In the bar chart below, each bar represents a pattern. The length of the bar shows what percent of the full 15 points you’ve earned for that pattern, while the label highlights how many easy, medium, and hard problems went into that score.

Note: For this calculation, I have only considered the counts that satisfy our 1–2–1 rubric. If a pattern has more questions than required by the rubric, I count only 1 easy, 2 medium, and 1 hard problem. For example, if Dynamic Programming has 10 medium questions, I have included just 2 in this calculation.

The bar chart above shows that the overlap stage already gives you a very good start. In fact, 8 out of 28 patterns are covered in this set, which is about 29%. That’s solid progress from the very first step.

Among these, Dynamic Programming is nearly well-covered, and Sliding Window is partially covered, which is especially valuable as both are highly relevant to Airbnb interviews. A few others, such as Two Pointers, K-Way Merge, and Merge Intervals, get some exposure, but remain underrepresented for now. They can be covered with targeted practice as per the 1–2–1 rubric.

Next: Cover Airbnb-specific coding questions#

Once the overlap is complete, the next step is to tackle the Airbnb-only problems that Grind 75 does not touch. These questions sharpen your prep because they reflect Airbnb’s unique problem space. They also boost coverage for several underrepresented patterns.

Let’s see which LeetCode patterns this set covers.

The list above shows that practicing the Airbnb-only coding questions introduces 12 new LeetCode patterns, taking the total to 20 out of 28 patterns (about 71%). This progress is a clear sign that the roadmap is advancing meaningfully in the right direction.

Now, let’s see how well the patterns in this set are covered according to the 1–2–1 rubric. The bar chart below highlights the newly covered patterns in green on the y-axis.

The bar chart above shows that adding the Airbnb-only questions clearly strengthens the roadmap. Several patterns that were not fully covered in the overlap stage now move into the well-covered zone, including Sliding Window, Greedy Techniques, Graphs, and Custom Data Structures. Many others like Two Pointers, Merge Intervals, and Trie move into partial coverage territory, giving you a broader and more balanced foundation.

Overall, this stage takes the roadmap much closer to complete readiness. That said, a handful of patterns such as Backtracking, Topological Sort, Sort and Search, and Bitwise Manipulation remain underrepresented. These will need targeted practice in later steps to ensure that there are no gaps left.

The impact of full Grind 75 coverage in Airbnb prep#

Completing the rest of Grind 75 fills in many of the remaining gaps. While these problems are not Airbnb-specific, they bring balance by exposing you to patterns that are otherwise underrepresented. This step strengthens breadth, ensures all 28 patterns get some level of practice, and prepares you for curveball variations that Airbnb interviewers might introduce.

Let’s see which LeetCode patterns this set covers:

The list above shows that the remaining Grind 75 coding problems introduce 7 new patterns, taking the total to 27 out of 28 (about 96%). This is a very promising result, bringing us close to full coverage.

Now, let’s see how well the patterns in this set are represented according to the 1–2–1 rubric.

The bar chart above shows that the Grind 75-only stage offers a huge boost in coverage. Many patterns that were previously partial, now move into the well-covered zone. Two Pointers, Greedy Techniques, Dynamic Programming, Stacks, and Tree Traversals all reach complete coverage. Others, like Merge Intervals, Topological Sort, Graphs, Trie, and Union Find, are nearly complete.

This step clearly strengthens the roadmap by balancing out earlier gaps. At the same time, a few patterns such as Backtracking, Hash Maps, and Math and Geometry stay in partial coverage, while Heaps, K-Way Merge, Subsets, and Top K Elements remain underrepresented.

Overall, completing Grind 75 adds breadth and depth, ensuring that most of the fundamental patterns are now solidly prepared, while leaving only a handful that need targeted practice.

Is your Airbnb coding interview prep complete now?#

You might be wondering how close this roadmap actually gets you to complete coverage. The bar chart below shows the overall state of pattern readiness after combining overlap, Airbnb-only, and the rest of Grind 75. It highlights which patterns are already well covered, which are partially covered, and which still need extra attention before you can call your Airbnb coding interview prep complete.

Looking at the overall picture, the roadmap has made strong progress. 13 out of 28 patterns are now in the green zone (well covered), which gives you great confidence for Airbnb’s coding interviews.

At the same time, 4 patterns are in the yellow zone (partially covered). Each of these only needs one or two more carefully chosen problems to move into the green zone.

Finally, 12 patterns are still in the red zone (underrepresented). Most of them need two to three additional problems at the missing difficulty levels to cross into the well-covered range.

Notably, one of the patterns, Cyclic Sort, was not covered at all, so it requires your full attention. Here are some recommended coding problems to practice for Cyclic Sort:

Airbnb interview prep: How many coding patterns are covered?#

The pie chart below breaks down the contribution from each stage, showing where the most progress came from and what gaps still remain.

The pie chart shows how patterns were covered across each stage of the roadmap. The overlap stage makes up about 29%, as Airbnb-only questions contribute the largest share at 43%, and the remaining 25% comes from the rest of Grind 75. Only a small fraction, about 4%, remains uncovered (which  has now been identified).

Clearly, the Airbnb-specific step contributes the most, which makes sense as it directly aligns with Airbnb’s interview style while also strengthening many underrepresented patterns.

Score summary for Airbnb coding interview prep#

Pattern coverage tells us what was practiced, but scores reveal how close we are to the 420-point benchmark. The chart below highlights the points contributed by each stage and shows which part of the roadmap had the biggest impact on Airbnb interview readiness.

The score chart shows clear progress across the stages. The overlap problems contribute 46 points, while the Airbnb-only questions add the biggest share with 123 points. Completing the rest of Grind 75 adds another 102 points, bringing the total to 271 out of 420. This means the Airbnb-only stage contributed the most, which makes sense as it directly reflects Airbnb’s problem space and strengthens many of the patterns that Grind 75 leaves underrepresented.

Final take: The best Airbnb prep strategy#

Preparing for Airbnb’s coding interviews isn’t about unthinkingly grinding through hundreds of problems. It’s about being strategic. Grind 75 gives you a solid foundation, Airbnb’s top 62 brings in company-specific focus, and LeetCode patterns provide the adaptability you need when questions take unexpected turns.

The hybrid roadmap we explored combines all three, ensuring you cover all 28 coding patterns while staying aligned with Airbnb’s real interview style. With this approach, you don’t just practice questions, you build a toolkit of problem-solving frameworks that make you confident, no matter what variation shows up during the actual interview.

If you’re preparing for Airbnb, don’t stop at a single resource. Follow the roadmap, track your progress against the patterns, and measure how close you are to the 420-point benchmark. That way, when the interview happens, you’ll not only know the answers, but also understand the strategies behind them. This is exactly what Airbnb looks for in its engineers. Good luck!

Recommended resources to level up your coding interview prep#

While this blog offers you a data-driven way to measure and close your prep gaps, the right learning tools can accelerate your progress even further. Here are two highly effective resources to complement your study plan.

• Educative’s Personalized Interview Prep: It’s your tailored prep companion that adapts to your skill level and focuses on the 28 essential LeetCode patterns that we’ve been discussing. You can work on the patterns that need the most attention, track progress with clear metrics, and know exactly what to tackle next. Whether it’s adding an easy problem to build confidence or a hard one to push for mastery, you’ll always be working on the right problems at the right time.

• Educative’s Mock Interviews: Practicing is not just about solving problems. It is also about handling real interview pressure. Educative’s AI mock interviews let you simulate actual interview conditions, get actionable feedback, and improve in areas like problem-solving speed. This way, you are not only technically prepared, but also confident and ready to perform under time constraints.