Airbnb’s core business – guests staying in short-term rentals – grew less than 10% in 2024 and just 8% in the first quarter this year. Can Airbnb return to double-digit revenue growth?
Airbnb’s shareholder letter, released along with the first-quarter results on Thursday, stated that it expected bookings of nights and experiences to be “moderate” for the current quarter.
Airbnb reported that the U.S. had seen “softer results,” which they believe was primarily due to economic uncertainties.
Brian Chesky, Airbnb CEO, stated on a Thursday earnings call that international expansion will be a major growth driver. The shareholder letter noted that expansion markets grew more than twice as fast as Airbnb’s core markets — the U.S., Canada, the UK, France and Australia — in the first quarter.
Chesky said that Spain, Italy Germany Mexico Brazil China India South Korea Japan are the most important markets for expansion.
Chesky stated that “we’re going step it up, and I believe that international will be the biggest growth driver that will bring us back to double digit growth.”
Chesky added that adding more high-quality hotel properties to the platform was part of the strategy. Chesky stated that “we think that almost all hoteliers would love to use Airbnb as a channel of distribution”.
He said that the company was a good fit for him. acquired HotelTonight Airbnb had planned to launch a new hotel in 2019 but was forced to stop due the pandemic. Airbnb launched a new product called Airbnb Go. promotion HotelTonight bookings get 10% off on Airbnb
Chesky declared, “It will definitely be a part our strategy again.”
Chesky has launched a new website to help it achieve its goal of doubling the number of room nights. Guest Favorites. Airbnb has also removed over 450,000 listings that were substandard since 2023.
Airbnb expanded its total price display Before taxes worldwide. Chesky stated that this feature attracts customers to properties offering the best value, and “incentivizes best behavior from hosts.”
Chesky stated that only 1 in 9 people choose to stay at an Airbnb rather than a hotel. “If we could get just one of these nine people, it would potentially double the size our business.”
Chesky stated that most visitors to Airbnb do not book a room. In fact, 1.5 billion devices — phones, tablets and computers — accessed Airbnb, so there is great potential to convince more of the individuals behind these devices to book and to grow the business.
Bookings for Nights and Experiences
Airbnb’s bookings of nights and experiences grew by 8% in the first quarter to reach $143.1 million. The growth rate was 9.5% one year ago, but a portion of this deceleration is due to foreign exchange problems.
Airbnb said that it expects the average daily rate to remain flat in 2025, compared to last year.
The revenue growth rate was 18% for the first three months of 2024 but just 6% for the first three months of 2025. Airbnb reported that the revenue growth in the first quarter of 2025 would have been 11 percent if not for currency and calendar problems.
Booking Holdings, on the other hand, saw its revenue and room nights increase by 8% in the first three months.
The net income for the first three months of 2018 fell by 41%, to $154,000,000. Airbnb’s net income fell 41% to $154 million in the first quarter. This was due primarily to higher stock-based compensation as a result of having more employees and write-downs of private investment values.
Canadians opt for Mexico
Airbnb also reported “softness” in Canadians travel to the U.S. — in light of President Trump’s proposed tariffs and talk of turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state.
Airbnb has confirmed that Canadians continue to use Airbnb. For example, in March, the number of Canadians who booked stays in Mexico increased by 27%.
