Skift Take
The latest revenue numbers from Airbnb explain why Expedia is acquiring HomeAway, the Priceline Group is touting its 21 million bookable rooms, and Wall Street analysts are questioning hotel-chain CEOs on the prospect of selling hotel rooms through Airbnb.
Airbnb raised an additional $100 million in funding, according to the Wall Street Journal, bringing its total to some $2.4 billion but among the more interesting aspects were the financial metrics that the apartment-rental site was showing off to potential investors.
The WSJ reporter said he viewed the pitch deck, which indicated that Airbnb transacted $2.2 billion in gross bookings during the third quarter, generating $340 million in revenue. Room nights sold during the quarter jumped 110.6 percent to 23.8 million, according to Airbnb's presentation.
Airbnb's pitch to investors was undoubtedly crafted before Marriott International, seeing a competitive advantage in getting bigger, agreed to acquire Starwood Hotels for $12.2 billion, and the Priceline Group went on the offensive to tout its 21 million bookable rooms.
But Airbnb undoubtedly wanted to show investors that it is the lodging company with the greatest momentum. Even if Airbnb's numbers turn out to be somewhat inflated, the overall trajectory is illuminating.
Skift compared Airbnb's third quarter revenue of $340 million with the third quarter revenue figures that publicly traded hotel chains have reported [see chart below] and it turns out tha
