Airbnb’s Revenues Spike on 37 Percent Surge in Daily Rates Vs. 2019

Skift Take

Airbnb was the rare travel company success story from the pandemic. That shows no signs of abating. Remote working trends, pent-up travel demand and aggressive pricing are helping to keep the short-term rental platform riding high.

Tom Lowry

Vacation rental firm Airbnb Inc projected second-quarter revenue above market estimates on Tuesday, betting on pent-up demand to drive a strong summer travel season after COVID-19 curbs were eased globally.

The San Francisco-based firm expects revenue between $2.03 billion and $2.13 billion, compared with the average analyst expectation of $1.96 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

Shares of the company rose more than 3% in extended trading.

The rise of hybrid working has in recent months encouraged people to book longer and more frequent stays in destinations away from cities, giving a boost to rental providers.

Airbnb, which made a slew of changes to its service last year to take advantage of the post-pandemic travel rebound, said it posted the strongest growth for gross nights booked in non-urban areas in first three months of 2022.

“In Q1, long-term stays of 28 days or more remained our fastest-growing category by trip length compared to 2019,” the company said in a statement.

Gross booked nights in urban destinations also posted strong growth and rose above pre-pandemic levels thanks to the return of international travel, while nights and experiences bookings – a key metric of the platform’s performance — exceeded 100 million for the first time.

That along with a 37% surge in average daily rates over 2019 levels drove Airbnb’s revenue 70% higher from a year earlier.

Online travel websites Expedia Group Inc and Trivago NV also posted higher quarterly revenues on Monday as demand returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Airbnb reported a net loss of 3 cents per share, compared with analysts’ estimates of a 29 cents per share loss.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)

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