Airbnb bets on summer of travel to drive revenue growth

Reuters

Published May 03, 2022 04:07PM ET

Updated May 03, 2022 06:46PM ET

By Aishwarya Nair

(Reuters) -Vacation rental firm Airbnb Inc projected second-quarter revenue above market estimates on Tuesday, betting on pent-up demand to drive a summer of strong travel after COVID-19 curbs were eased globally.

The San Francisco-based firm expects revenue between $2.03 billion and $2.13 billion, compared with the average analyst expectation of $1.96 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The rise of hybrid working has in recent months encouraged people to book longer and more frequent stays in destinations away from cities, giving a boost to rental providers.

"We are going to continue to see continued and sustained growth for stays of longer than a month and stays of longer than a week," Chief Executive Brian Chesky said on a call with analysts.

Shares of the company rose more than 4% in extended trading.

Airbnb, which made a slew of changes to its service last year to take advantage of the post-pandemic travel surge, said it posted the strongest growth in gross nights booked in non-urban areas in the first three months of 2022.

Gross booked nights in urban destinations also rose sharply to above pre-pandemic levels, while the number of nights and experiences booked - a key metric of the platform's performance - exceeded 100 million for the first time.

That along with a 37% surge in average daily rates over 2019 levels drove Airbnb's revenue 70% higher from a year earlier. The company reported a net loss of 3 cents per share which was much smaller than analysts' estimates.