Airbnb CEO says company focused on boosting long-term stays


FILE PHOTO: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky attends an interview with Reuters in Paris, France, September 26, 2023. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vacation rental company Airbnb sees a huge opportunity to grow its long-term rental business as short-term rentals are under growing scrutiny in tourist hot spots like Athens and Barcelona.

The company is focused on growing its long-term rental business, which refers to stays of 28 days or longer, CEO Brian Chesky told an audience at a travel conference late Wednesday. Local governments around the world have clamped down on short-term rentals as they try to increase housing supply for full-time residents.

"Stays of 30 to 90 days, monthly stays, the seasonal stays, I think that's a huge growth opportunity," Chesky said. Long-term rental bookings have grown in the last few years, he added, now reaching 17% to 18% of the company's business, compared to 13% to 14% before the pandemic.

The company is focused in part on expanding its long-term rental and experience businesses while also offering new services like matching people with homes who do not have time to be Airbnb hosts with those who would like to be hosts but do not have properties to list on the site.

Chesky told the audience the company also sees sponsored home listings as a billion-dollar revenue opportunity, noting what he has seen from Uber and competitor Booking Holdings' business models.

Greece and Spain are among the latest countries to tighten regulations on vacation rentals in an attempt to address housing shortages.

(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

   

Next In Tech News

Exclusive-Amazon likely to face investigation under EU tech rules next year, sources say
US natgas producers chase AI-driven surge in power demand to weather low prices
Snowflake shares surge on rosy forecast, AI deal with Anthropic
Digital banks lead profitability gains among Brazilian lenders, says central bank
PayPal fixes outage that affected thousands worldwide
X's former top policy chief takes job with Elon Musk rival, Sam Altman
Alibaba integrates e-commerce platforms into a single business unit
US watchdog issues final rule to supervise Big Tech payments, digital wallets
Nvidia to build AI school in Indonesia, VP says
A Google PC running Android could be in the works

Others Also Read