While most of us spent the pandemic going on walks every two hours and baking only half-decent bread, Airbnb was slowly turning itself from a vacation rental company into a proper residential housing company, and it's turning out to be an extremely clever pivot.
The numbers I heard today were that in Q4 2021, over 50% of gross nights booked on the platform were for stays longer than seven days, and 22% of gross nights booked were for stays of at least 28 days. I always associated Airbnb with cool weekend trip getaways and cheap couches to crash on in New York City, but clearly the market has been shifting for quite some time towards a future where Airbnbs are used more like short-term housing rather than just a cheap mattress for a night.
I don't think it takes an MBA to explain this trend: the rise in remote work led to a greater number of people no longer tied to living within 20 miles of their office, which led to greater demand for cool short-term rentals as pandemic getaways. I'm not saying this trend doesn't make sense. What I am saying though is I think it's incredibly impressive that Airbnb has been able to use this trend as leverage to take a business model that got categorically screwed by the pandemic and reposition it so the value proposition all of a sudden feels more relevant than ever. Hearing these numbers makes me more confident than ever before in both Brian Chesky's leadership and in the company's ability to grow into its over $100 billion valuation. The opportunities for a vacation rental company seemed very promising, but add on the additional opportunities as a short-term residential housing company and Airbnb is put into a whole new league of potential.
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