2023-10-05 21:02:37
Airbnb is preparing to expand its business lines. Its CEO, Brian Chesky, has assured in an interview in the “Financial Times” that starting next year, the company will look “beyond its core business”, including an expansion of services and experiences. In addition, it advances more changes, planned for the following month, which will mark the “largest Airbnb update ever made.”
“Travel is our sweet spot,” he says in the interview. “Eventually, the big frontier for Airbnb is to move beyond travel…there is an eventual opportunity for Airbnb to become a big part of your daily life. Not just once or twice a year,” he states.
He also indicates that offering rentals of up to one year represents “a great opportunity” and that given that only 18% of gross bookings per night in the second quarter of this year come from stays of more than 30 days, more can be done in this sense. Extended stays of more than three months are even rarer, he said.
Chesky highlights that in a post-pandemic world there is an unrecognized market for stays of one month, two months or three months, as people can work from their laptops and travel all summer.
On the other hand, as well as expanding into long-term rentals, Airbnb also seeks to be a provider of “things to do on your trip,” says the manager. In the interview, he highlights that there is a long list of ideas being considered at the company, including car rentals or “pop-up” restaurants (pop-up catering services). “The second most important asset in a person’s life, after his house, is his car,” Chesky notes. So what suggests that the company’s next move would be towards this model.
Legislative pressure
The CEO anticipates this strategy at a time when Airbnb’s business model is under pressure from legislators around the world due to the depletion of the housing stock in large cities, highlights the British newspaper.
As an example, he cites the rule in New York, where Airbnb has one of its largest markets and where a rule was recently introduced that limits the freedom residents have to rent through the platform, eliminating about three-quarters of their listings in the city.
Chesky points out that he does not see this situation in New York as a “precedent” for the company. “Most people in New York City and beyond feel that there is absolutely a win-win situation,” he said.
The company’s global head of policy and communications, Jay Carney, predicted that the policy implemented in New York would not solve the housing crisis, and that hotel prices in the city would skyrocket, while “tourists on a budget limited will not be able to come to New York.
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