As a former lover of Airbnb, I'm very skeptical about the future of the company (speaking as a user). Airbnb was before the cheaper way to travel, and it connected with a target that enjoyed a more bohemian/close to real life travel experience (and tends to have more limited budgets). Now it is the more expensive choice compared to hotels most of the times, and I don't see a more lavish clientele getting attracted as much by the charm of a private apartment. I stopped using it after many years because of the prices, and youngsters around me seem to not even consider this as an option. Cities regulations are also coming into place making things harder for the small fries trying to rent one or two apartments, pushing the few survivors to professionalization (which ends up feeling the same as a hotel). I have heard Airbnb is shifting to experiences, including Brian Chesky yakking about it, but I don't fully see it. It looks to me Airbnb something closer to an Intel than a potential high-growth. A company that won't vanish but that has already seen its best days. Airbnb folks, what do you think? Would love to hear your thoughts. Is this accurate? TC: 230k Yoe: 7
I haven’t worked there and I don’t know anyone who does, but just wanted to echo your questions and sentiment. One other thing about it is that after local taxes and exorbitant cleaning fees, in most areas I’ve visited recently, decent hotels are a lot less expensive. And while a house or apartment can be comfortable for a longer term stay, I don’t mind a hotel for a few days especially if I’m saving hundreds of dollars that I can put toward some other experience while I’m on vacation.
I saw they recently posted some hardware eng openings. Any idea what that's about?
I'd disagree with Airbnb costs more. If you compare relative sq footage of a hotel room compared to most Airbnbs , you'd see Airbnb is significantly cheaper.
N why would one do that if they just need a place to sleep?
You don't really need living rooms when traveling
Basic rule of establishing ur business - offer so cheap that u create the following and water down ur competitors. And then raise the prices as u may aka Airbnb n Uber n Uber eats. Will it survive - yes U r skeptical - of course they want to target 10K plus spending client. You are no longer their preferred client or customer.
These clients don't go to Joe's houses to sleep on his son's bed. If you read my post you will see that this is exactly my point. People willing to spend this type of money usually are into a different lifestyle. Also I didn't doubt about its survival
So I’m coherently saying the same idea. You may hv modified ur ways others haven’t.
There’s no incentive for hosts to advertise homes at prices that result in them not getting enough bookings. The rising prices are a reflection of consumers being willing to spend more. I don’t see our growth being crazy, but I also didn’t see our IPO going the way that it has.
Do you think the number of offered houses has been reduced?
2020 saw decrease in hosts. There is a lot of host recruitment happening across the industry to meet the demand, which then drives down the prices. Airbnb doesnt meddle too much into pricing, if they do hosts wont be happy either.
The other issue is it doesn’t let you compare actual prices of the Airbnbs because the cleaning/other fees vary wildly and are not included in the search/map comparison I used to always book Airbnbs and now have switched to hotels for this reason
IMO, its demand-supply. In pandemic, people prefer airbnb over hotels and hence hosts can jack up the prices. Post pandemic, hopefully the prices will reduce. When traveling with family, the comfort of an airbnb is unparalleled! Staying in a real house vs a small room is worth the extra money.
This
Airbnb doesn't set prices. Hosts are charging more right now because demand is high and supply is low. When everything opens , hotel demand will increase so Airbnb hosts will set lower prices. It's just plain demand and supply. Coming back to your post. In pandemic , we gained millions of new users who never tried Airbnb before . So a change in habit and thought process of users who used it for first time has a long term positive effect on business. Yes we would have some users like you who might not take Airbnb now every time because you could find a better deal somewhere . Thats pretty normal. More you grow, you would have less % of loyal users but think of this as whether you want 80% of grape or 40% of watermelon
stopped using it as well - I go for hotels.com, where I can get cheaper rooms with complimentary house cleaning + free breakfast, and every 10th stay gets me a free night.
It’s hard to drive innovation at Airbnb Also tc or gtfo