Executive Briefing
Airbnb and the future of travel
Even with a vaccine, travel won’t be the same for a while. Advantage Airbnb.
By Dan Frommer on Saturday, December 5, 2020 at 8:00 am
Since we last spoke, a small handful of companies have filed to go public. Most relevant for our purposes are Airbnb and DoorDash, two businesses that have had vastly different experiences during Covid-19, plus Affirm, the clever play on consumer credit, and Roblox, the gaming platform phenomenon.
Airbnb’s move to go public now — it’s set for this coming week — is particularly bold. Beyond the reality that we’re in a devastating global pandemic and economic recession, its industry — travel — is perhaps the one that’s been hit hardest by Covid.
That shows up clearly in Airbnb’s filing and results.
From October 2019 through February 2020, it was doing about 27 million “nights and experiences” bookings per month, net of cancellations and alterations.
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