Airbnb reveals half a billion guest arrivals
Worldwide: Airbnb has reported that over half a billion guests have stayed at Airbnb listings around the globe since the company’s inception.
With that volume, the overall figure amounts to three guests checking into Airbnb-listed properties across 81,000 cities in 191 countries every half-second, according to Airbnb.
Airbnb is also claiming that its hosts have earned over $65 billion through its platform, which now has around six million listings. That puts the firm just ahead of Booking.com’s reported 5.7 million listings worldwide.
Furthermore, Airbnb says more than 75 cities – including Auckland, New Zealand; Mexico City; Cape Town, South Africa; and Havana, Cuba – have been hosts for at least one million guest arrivals.
As the numbers of guest arrivals continue to rise, so too does the geographic distribution of guest arrivals. In 2009, 86 per cent of the total guest arrivals were at listings in the company’s ten largest markets, whereas today, more than 900 cities have at least a thousand Airbnb listings each.
That diversity is also being replicated in Airbnb’s host community, with women accounting for 56 per cent of all hosts. More than a million hosts are over the age of 50, and over-60s represent the fastest-growing demographic of hosts in the United States.
The majority of Airbnb bookings (70 per cent) have been made by guests under the age of 40, and millennials have spent upwards of $31 billion through Airbnb since the company was founded back in 2008.
In addition to its Homes business, Airbnb says 2018 saw a 152 per cent increase in the number of rooms available in boutique hotels, bed and breakfasts and hostels and resorts. That has been a significant factor in Airbnb’s decision to acquire hotel-booking platform HotelTonight, although the final details still need to be agreed.
Airbnb added that its Experiences unit now includes more than 25,000 things to do in around one thousand cities worldwide.
For more information. visit the Airbnb website here.
