Airbnb reports most profitable quarter ever
US: Airbnb has recorded record profits and revenues in the third quarter of this year – marking its best quarter to date.
For the quarter ending 30 September, the booking platform generated $2.88 billion in revenue – a 29 per cent year-on-year growth compared to the equivalent quarter a year ago as pent-up demand for stays in vacation homes remained strong.
Along with the sustained average daily rates [ADRs] across its listings, Airbnb was also able to post a net income of $2.9 billion for Q3 – a 46 per cent year-on-year rise on last year’s figures.
Other notable figures for Airbnb included a 31 per cent uptick in gross booking value to $15.6 billion and a 32 per cent climb in adjusted EBITDA to $1.5 billion in the space of 12 months.
As the company intimated that it was looking to re-invest more into its Experiences programme, Airbnb also recorded 90 million guest arrivals during the quarter and 99.7 million “nights and experiences” booked – representing a 25 per cent year-on-year rise on Q3 2021. On top of that, it was the platform’s highest-ever third quarter for nights and experiences, with the Asia-Pacific [APAC] region seeing the most growth in the segment due in part to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
According to co-founder and CEO, Brian Chesky, long-term stays and rural travel are still solid drivers for Airbnb bookings, and employers’ calls for more staff to return to their offices is not slowing the demand for remote work. This is reflected in the fact that 20 per cent of total gross nights booked on Airbnb are long-term stays, something which Chesky has maintained as a growing trend since lockdown and border restrictions were eased across the world.
The majority of those long-term stays [30 days or longer] are occurring in EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa] and North America, according to Airbnb.
Despite posting new records in quarterly earnings, Airbnb’s investors briefly reduced the company’s stock price over concerns that forecasts for the fourth quarter were not going to meet their expectations for a busy holiday travel period.
