Update on the Airbnb Community

Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. From homes and boutique hotels, to castles and tree houses, we offer millions places to stay and access to local, authentic and unique experiences around the world. As co-founder, CEO and Head of Community Brian Chesky has said, we are committed to serving all stakeholders in the Airbnb community. Indeed, our success depends on a series of shared commitments that balance the interests of our stakeholders: 

• At Airbnb, we know that our success depends upon making sure our hosts are successful.
• Hosts only do well if their guests have experiences that exceed expectations. 
• Guests only have great experiences when they feel welcomed in the communities they visit. 
• Communities welcome guests when the economics of travel directly benefit those who live there. 

Today, we are offering a series of updates regarding stakeholders in the Airbnb community.

Hosts 

Hosts are our partners who help power our business and no two hosts are alike. As partners, Airbnb hosts decide what to offer, when to offer, and how much to charge for their listing. Hosts also keep the overwhelming majority of the price they set. Our unique business model is generating substantial benefits for millions of hosts around the world:

• As of September 15, 2019, hosts have earned more than $80 billion sharing their homes and spaces on Airbnb.

• Hosts come from all walks of life. For example, last year we reported that 45,000 teacher hosts earned $160 million on Airbnb in one year alone. In a 2019 survey of Airbnb hosts around the world, 51 percent said hosting has helped them afford their homes.

Hosts are and always will be the heart and soul of our community. Starting on September 22, we will be launching a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign celebrating our unique hosts and promoting the benefits of hosting in markets around the United States. The campaign features hosts like Nancy, a private-room host in San Francisco, and Marcus and Damon, who host a boutique hotel in New Orleans. Ads will run on TV and will also be featured in digital and out-of-home placements through November 17. To view examples of the campaign, click here and here.

Today, we are also announcing that the Airbnb community has passed another milestone: there are more than 7 million Airbnb listings in over 100,000 cities around the world, more listings than the eight largest hotel groups have rooms, combined. In 2019, we reported that nearly 1,000 cities have more than 1,000 Airbnb listings; back in 2011, only 12 cities did. 

Guests

Approximately six guests check into an Airbnb listing every second and these check-ins are happening all around the world: no single city accounts for more than roughly 1 percent of Airbnb guest arrivals or listings. The global scope of the Airbnb community has expanded dramatically in recent years. In the past year, more than 300 cities have welcomed over 100,000 guest arrivals at Airbnb listings, including cities like Bandung, Indonesia; Cuernavaca, Mexico; Sofia, Bulgaria; Ubatuba, Brazil; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2011, only one city had welcomed over 100,000 Airbnb guest arrivals.

Airbnb guests also hail from a diverse range of communities. For example, Airbnb has long been popular among travelers from the biggest cities in the U.S. From  July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019, there were an estimated 8.2 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings around the world by travelers who hailed from New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle.

Airbnb is also increasingly popular with travelers in other cities. Among US cities with at least 100,000 guest arrivals between July 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019, those cities with the fastest growing number of travelers who chose Airbnb when taking a trip included El Paso, Texas, Memphis, Tennessee, San Antonio, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida. For example, in 2014, there were roughly 3,000 guest arrivals by travelers from El Paso, but from July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019, there were over 100,000 guest arrivals by travelers from El Paso. All told, travelers from these cities accounted for over 1 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings between July 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019. 

Guests are also turning to Airbnb when they are looking for things to do. Airbnb Experiences immerse travelers in local communities around the world by offering one-of-a-kind activities that are handcrafted and led by local experts. From walking with wolves in Los Angeles to listening to live jazz in a repurposed London shipping container, Experiences go beyond typical tours or classes by immersing guests in each host’s unique world.

Since launching in 2016, our Experiences business has surged. Today, there are over 40,000 Experiences in more than 1,000 cities around the world:

• More than 10 percent of guests booking homes are adding an experience to their trip in more than 25 markets all over the world like Lisbon, Florence, Havana, Puerto Rico, Bali, and Marrakesh.

• In the second quarter of 2019, nearly one in seven guests who booked an Experience had never booked a stay on Airbnb, double the number of guests in the previous year.

• In certain cities like Seattle, Sydney and São Paulo, more than 15 percent of all Experience bookings were made by local users in those cities. 

Communities

We have committed to treating every city personally and working with local leaders on sensible rules for home sharing. We have partnered with over 500 local governments and organizations around the world to promote tourism, collect and remit taxes, and enable home sharing.

• Airbnb’s host and guest community generated over $100 billion in estimated direct economic impact across 30 countries in 2018 alone.

• As of June 1, 2019, we have collected over $1.6 billion in transient occupancy taxes (TOT) on behalf of our community around the world.

• Our experience has shown that our community can continue to grow even when strict regulations are put in place. In San Francisco, where one of the most restrictive laws in the country was implemented in 2018, the number of Airbnb listings increased by 22 percent in one year. Overall, total booking value in San Francisco was unchanged in 2018 vs. 2017, driven by a 42-percent increase in the number of nights hosted per listing. These metrics reflect the continued strong demand from guests and the ability for our hosts to increase hosting frequency to meet the demand.

• We have doubled down on our work to promote sustainable and authentic travel. In China, we recently launched the Intangible Cultural Heritage Initiative, whereby travelers will be able to immerse themselves in traditional art and craftsmanship in Experiences offered by local artisans and communities. In Italy, we have boosted support for rural revitalization by launching the “Italian Sabbatical” to allow a few individuals to live for three months in Grottole, a village with 300 inhabitants and more than 600 empty homes and at risk of disappearing. Contest winners helped NGO Wonder Grottole to revitalize the village centre, an effort that was also part of a wider partnership with Matera Capital of Culture Foundation and Airbnb’s Community Tourism Programme.

Shareholders

As our community has grown, our business has thrived. In the second quarter of 2019, Airbnb recognized substantially more than $1 billion in revenue. The second quarter of 2019 marked the second quarter in our history in which Airbnb revenue exceeded $1 billion.  

Going Forward 

We will continue to provide additional updates regarding our work to serve all our stakeholders — our hosts, guests, the communities in which we operate, and our employees and shareholders — in the weeks and months ahead.