Business

Airbnb sees growth slowing before summer travel uptick

Firm says growth in the current period for nights and experiences booked – a key industry metric – will be ‘relatively stable’

Airbnb and its rivals have been working to establish a new normal since the pandemic.

Thu May 9 2024 - 09:41

Airbnb provided lacklustre guidance for a second consecutive quarter, indicating that growth in travel spending will slow further before the peak summer season kicks in. The shares were down about 7 per cent in extended trading.

Revenue for the current quarter ending in June will be $2.68 billion (€2.5 billion) to $2.74 billion, the company said in a letter to shareholders. Analysts were expecting $2.74 billion, according to Bloomberg-compiled estimates. In its statement, Airbnb blamed the earlier timing of the 2024 Easter holiday as well as currency headwinds.

Airbnb and its rivals have been working to establish a new normal since the pandemic. The industry’s recovery has been choppy, with demand growing faster in some regions and tapering off in others due to the different pace of reopening from Covid-19 restrictions. Last week, Booking.com gave worse-than-expected guidance and Expedia issued disappointing results.

Airbnb, which specialises in shared homes and vacation rentals both in urban cities and rural destinations, saw a deceleration in North American nights booked in the first quarter. It has been making an effort through its marketing to differentiate its rentals from hotels in the hopes that people travelling in groups will opt to rent homes with multiple bedrooms. The company said that bookings for groups of six or more people were the fastest growing segment in the region.

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Growth in the current period for nights and experiences booked – a key industry metric – will be “relatively stable” compared with the 9.5 per cent gain it posted in the first quarter. That falls short of analysts’ expectations for a roughly 12 per cent increase. It also represents the slowest rate of growth since 2020, suggesting that overall demand has normalised after an initial post-pandemic travel boom.

The outlook overshadowed an otherwise better-than-expected report for the first quarter, which saw revenue surpass estimates, growing 18 per cent to $2.14 billion thanks to particularly strong gains in Asia and Latin America.

The company is expecting revenue growth to reaccelerate in the third quarter, as key international events like the summer Olympics in Paris and the Euro Cup in Germany are fuelling travel demand in the peak summer season.

The continued recovery in international travel has been a bright spot for the travel industry including Airbnb, whose businesses in Latin America and Asia have seen faster growth than in the US. It has also been investing more into less mature markets in those regions to drive near-term gains, including the introduction of limited-edition stays inspired by local cultural icons.

Chief executive Brian Chesky has said that the company he cofounded in 2007 is ready to expand beyond its core product after spending the past year refining existing offerings. In particular, the company has been focused on making listings more reliable and affordable for guests, as well as encouraging more people to host.

That work has been paying off. The number of active listings in the first quarter grew 15 per cent year-over-year and supply has continued to grow at a double-digit pace across all regions. That’s in spite of the company removing thousands of listings in the first quarter that did not meet guest expectations. – Bloomberg

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