While business travel has been one of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, Airbnb plans to capitalize on the newly discovered work-life balance that emerged during the move to remote work.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday that the rental company is seeing signs that consumers are taking advantage of the model to work anywhere companies are taking to leave home and find one. change of scenery.
“The lines between traveling and living are starting to blur,” he said in an “Mad Money” interview.
Unlike just renting Airbnb sites for vacations, more people are using rentals for housing purposes, said Chesky, who started the company he founded last year. The IPO, initially set for early 2020, has been postponed until the end of the year due to uncertainty surrounding the global pandemic. The travel industry has been one of the most affected parts of the economy due to the blockages that have occurred worldwide to contain Covid-19.
Remote workers now have even more flexibility, choosing to take more three-day weekends or move home for longer periods than before, as long as internet is available to connect to Zoom for work purposes, said Chesky .
“We think that many trips will be to smaller cities because people will get in cars and travel nearby,” he said.
“We really are adaptable and resilient to any kind of travel behavior. This is what we learned last year, ”he added.
The comments come after Airbnb posted its first quarterly report as a public company. It has lost analysts’ expectations at the bottom line, although it has exceeded estimates at the top line.
Airbnb said it obtained $ 859 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, compared to FactSet’s estimates of $ 747 million and a net loss of $ 3.89 billion. Much of the losses were attributed to fees charged to go public last year.
On Thursday, Airbnb’s shares plummeted, closing 9% down at $ 182.06, alongside other high-growth technologies and stocks during a brutal day on Wall Street.
In the year, the stock is up 24%.