Airbnb has reported earnings of $834 million on record revenue for the ending of the third quarter following the mass vaccination worldwide. The spike in the income of Airbnb was credited to the people who went back to traveling after a long period of travel restrictions. When the companies shut down offices temporarily due to the COVID 19 pandemic, many employees had the option to work from home using some video technology app like Zoom. As a result of people being allowed to work from anywhere, people took this opportunity to travel while working, which resulted in a huge leap in rentals worldwide.
Airbnb, which was based in San Francisco, stated in their letter to their shareholders that they believe that the trend of flexible working will speed up and result in more revenue for them. Airbnb has noted that major companies like Amazon and Ford have already announced company policies to allow employees to work from home. It was predicted that other companies would follow along as well.
The changes in the work habits, which were made possible with the videoconferencing technology, helped Airbnb generate long-term stays and better revenue. Airbnb stated that people staying for more than a month is rising even before the pandemic but has rapidly increased as well in the pandemic. The extended stays of Airbnb have about 20% booked nights in the recent quarter and was only about 14% before the pandemic.
Airbnb reports their net income as high as four times their $219 million revenue from the same quarter last year and nearly three times the $267 million they earned from the third quarter of the year 2019. Income has risen about 67% from a year ago and 36% from the third quarter last 2019. However, the cancellations for the booking were also higher than the time before the pandemic. This is also understandable because travel restrictions and requirements are constantly changing, and some people find it hard to keep up. Through the years, the third quarter has been considered to be the best quarter for Airbnb.
Airbnb reports losses in other quarters, they even said a loss of $407 million in the first nine months of this year, but they are consistently reporting revenue in the third quarter. The bookings in North America alone grew about 10%, and the Latin America bookings rose to 20% more over the same period in the last two years. The sales and marketing department of Airbnb has spent double their average spending, and their budget for product development has increased as well.
Sources: SM Daily Journal, AP News, ABC News