Airbnb: New record in bookings as travel recovers

Despite concerns about a slowdown and price increases hitting households, Airbnb said travel demand remains strong. According to the data, nearly 104 million overnight stays were booked between April and June, a record number for the accommodation rental site.

Slightly longer stays continued to be the fastest growing type of trip, a shift driven by the rise of telecommuting.

But international and city travel, which had been delayed due to the pandemic, has also recovered.

Optimism

The company highlighted that it is in the midst of its strongest summer travel season and assured investors that it is well prepared for anything that might hit the economy.

"Airbnb was founded during the recession," CEO Brian Chesky said on a conference call with analysts to discuss the company's results.

In the event of another slowdown, he said, "we think a lot of people might turn to hosting again, so that's a big opportunity for us."

Overall, bookings in the April-June period were up 25% from last year to 103,7 million and up 24% from 2019.

Higher prices helped boost the company's revenue, which rose 58% from last year to $2,1 billion. Nearly half of the company's bookings are for a week or more, the company said.

What is happening in China?

Travel demand remains strongest in North America, where bookings are up 37% compared to 2019.

Growth in Europe – while travel has rebounded from the pandemic – is lagging behind, affected by factors such as the weaker pound.

The company, which announced in May that it was pulling out of China, said demand remained below pre-pandemic levels in the Asia-Pacific region as Covid restrictions kept Chinese tourists at home.

Despite removing listings in China in July, Airbnb still has more than 6 million active listings on the platform.

They prefer platforms

Nights in short-term rental accommodation "booked" in 34 through Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group or Tripadvisor in the EU territory jumped 2021%, and more specifically, they amounted to 364 million.

However, this number is still 29% lower than the 512 million overnight stays recorded in 2019, a year before the pandemic COVID-19.

It should be noted that this data on short-stay accommodation offered through these platforms is the result of an agreement between the European Commission and the four private collaborative economy platforms reached in March 2020, showing that private data can be successfully used as a source of official, albeit experimental, statistics.

Source: ot.gr