Airbnb: Longer Stays Among Fastest Growing Segments as Work-From-Home Becomes the Norm

For Airbnb, the extended stay is here to stay.

The company’s latest earnings show that key measures of activity are above pre-pandemic levels — and that guests, buoyed by the work-from-home trend, are staying at the platform’s properties for longer stretches of time.

As for the summer surge: Headed into the beginning of the current quarter, the company had 30% more nights booked for summer stays than had been seen in 2019.

Supplemental materials posted by the company show that it logged 102.1 million nights, measured in bookings. Gross booking value surged by 67% year on year, and average daily rates were up 5% in the same period, to $168.

“Millions of people are now more flexible about where they live and they work,” said Brian Chesky, CEO. “We’ve been able to quickly respond to this changing world of travel.”

He noted, too, that guests are staying longer – “and even living” in rentals garnered through the platform.  To that end, though short term stays rebounded, stays of at least a month gained ground too, and are the company’s fastest growing category, accounting for 21% of gross nights booked in the first quarter.

“The pandemic accelerated the adoption of longer term stays – certainly by several years,” Chesky said on the call. That’s due in part to the fact that consumers do not have to return to the office five days a week.

Dial In, Live and Work from Anywhere

“As long as we believe in a world where people continue to dial in on Zoom…we’ll see continued sustained growth in stays of longer than a month and stays of longer than a week,” he added.  Hosts are also interested in longer-duration stays, too, given the fact that there can be high seasonality – and that longer stays can be attractive in the “lower” seasons.  The end result is that they have annual higher occupancies.

In response to analyst questions about supply and demand, he said that the company is not supply constrained. CFO Dave Stephenson said that non-urban active listings grew by 21% in North America and 15% globally.

The company said in its materials that Q1 2022 non-urban gross nights booked increasing 80% compared to Q1 2019. Domestic gross nights booked also increased 65% compared to Q1 2019. Gross nights booked to high-density urban destinations grew 80% compared to Q1 2021.

Airbnb is experiencing the work-from-home trend among its own personnel as well as in its bookings. In an announcement posted April 28 on the company website, Chesky said the vacation rental site’s workers can now choose to work from home or at the office.

See more: Airbnb to Let Employees Live, Work Anywhere