Airbnb CEO: Increase in Leisure Travel But Not Business Travel

Airbnb, just like the rest of the tourism-dependent businesses, experienced losses last year. Its revenue was down by 22% for the quarter and 30% for the year. However, unlike its competitors, Airbnb performed somewhat better. Expedia, for instance, was down by 57% while its booking dropped by 55%.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky believes that the trend is that the travel industry is going to continue to recover for the rest of the year. He isn’t alone in his opinion. Some experts even anticipate domestic travel as the first phase that will fuel recovery.

However, he mentioned that he doesn’t see business travel to recover as much as leisure travel will. He said that “we are at predominantly leisure travel business”.  Chesky also noted that since people are now working from home means that there will also be more people who are going to stay in Airbnb rentals as well.

And with all the travel restrictions, there is a chance that people are also traveling to small communities within the area where the concentration of Airbnb is.

Airbnb Will Be Ready

Chesky said that “we do believe a travel rebound is coming”. He also added that “it’s going to be a very big rebound”. He admitted though that he doesn’t know when exactly this will happen. However, he told the Airbnb team that it is “better to be early than late”. By the time travel comes back, Chesky wants Airbnb to be ready to cater to their market.

Transportation Security Administration saw millions of travelers board planes despite the pandemic for their spring break. TSA recorded the highest number of air travelers on March 12. That’s just 4% lower than its 2019 number. With vaccinations underway, more people could be more confident to travel. Though CDC is against people traveling at this point considering the large percentage of Americans who haven’t been vaccinated yet, traveler optimism is on the rise.