Airbnb bookings hit a record high as pleased co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky said at an earnings call this week, “Despite the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and macroeconomic headwinds, Q1 was another incredible quarter. We exceeded 100 million nights and experiences booked for the first time ever.”
Revenue he said, was US $1.5 billion, exceeding Q1 2019 by 80%. In Q1, gross nights booked grew 32% compared to Q1 2019. With their numbers at an all time high, Chesky said, “what these results show is that two years into the pandemic, Airbnb is stronger than ever before.”
The reason he says, is millions of people are now more flexible about where they live and they work.
People continue to travel domestically and continue to go to rural destinations at Airbnb, said Chesky, “we are also seeing guests return to cities and cross borders at, or even above, pre-pandemic rates.”
Stays are longer, and some people are even living on Airbnb. While short-term stays rebounded strongly in Q1 2022, stays of a month or longer continue to be the fastest-growing category by tripling compared to 2019. Nearly half the nights booked in Q1 were for stays of a week or longer and 1 in 5 nights booked were for stays of a month or longer.
“So, the world is clearly becoming more flexible about where people can work. And getting ahead of this trend, last week, we announced that Airbnb employees can live and work anywhere, and we’ve designed a way for them to live and work around the world while collaborating in a highly collaborative way and experiencing the in-person connection that makes Airbnb special.” Chesky said.
He also noted that Airbnb innovations are inspiring guests to discover thousands of new places. “In 2021, we delivered more than 150 upgrades across every aspect of our service.
“And among these upgrades was the innovative ‘I’m Flexible’ feature. Now the I’m Flexible feature has now been used more than 2 billion times -2 billion. And guests who use I’m Flexible are more likely to book homes in less popular locations. This is really important because this allows us to point demand to where we have supply and it helps distribute guests more widely in communities all around the world.”
Chesky also spoke of Airbnb’s efforts in Ukraine.
“When the crisis broke out, we knew that our platform can help refugees fleeing the crisis. And within four days of the invasion Ukraine, we announced that Airbnb.org would provide free housing for up to 100,000 refugees fleeing from Ukraine. And over 30,000 hosts have already signed up to open their homes to refugees for free or for a discount. But then something even more remarkable happened, people started booking homes for hosting Ukraine.
“Hosts they never intend to stay with, just to provide relief aid. And soon, more than 170,000 people joined in, and they booked approximately 600,000 nights booked in Ukraine. And because we waived our fees, $20 million were directly to host in Ukraine. And I think this speaks to the power of our community.
“And they are a reminder that in the world of darkness and in a world of destruction, kindness still exist. And so, I’m really proud of our business results this quarter. I’m also proud of how helpful we’ve been able to be to thousands of people in need.”