This is a first since the creation of Airbnb in 2008: the short-term accommodation rental platform presented a positive balance sheet in 2022, according to a press release published on Tuesday February 14.
The housing reservation platform achieved 8.4 billion dollars (7.82 billion euros) in turnover (+ 40% over one year) in 2022, of which it generated 1.9 billion net profit.
In the fourth quarter, its revenues increased by 24% over one year, despite a difficult economic context marked by inflation and massive social plans in the United States. Above all, its net profit was almost multiplied by five, to 319 million dollars, well beyond market expectations. It’s the “fourth most profitable quarter” in the history of Airbnb, underlined the Californian group. Its title took more than 9% during electronic trading after the closing of the New York Stock Exchange.
Brian Chesky, the company’s boss, expressed optimism for the current quarter, with users who “always book in advance”. “Travellers have started to visit cities again and to go abroad, [ce qui] was Airbnb’s livelihood before the pandemic”he said during a conference call.
Acceleration of supply
The platform had 6.6 million homes open for rent at the end of December 2022, 16% more than a year ago (not counting China). An acceleration of the offer that Brian Chesky explains by two factors: on the one hand, the desire of individuals to generate additional income, “often essential in these difficult times” ; on the other hand, service improvements.
Airbnb thus set up a system in the fall of 2022 which allows neophyte hosts to be advised by experienced hosts, paid by the company. “The number of new active hosts recruited with the help of our ‘superhosts’ has increased by 20%”, assured Brian Chesky. The platform has also added the ability to verify the identity of travelers and increased the amount of damage covered by its AirCover insurance.
Airbnb also expects a “fairly gradual recovery” in China. In the spring of 2022, the group had decided to suspend its offer of accommodation for rent in this country because of the repeated confinements since the beginning of 2020, but the platform remained open to Chinese wishing to rent accommodation abroad.
After the complicated years of the pandemic, during which Airbnb had to lay off a quarter of its workforce, the boss of the platform is confident: “We think there are going to be hundreds of millions of people who want (…) Travel around the world. »