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Experiences

What's Left Unanswered in Airbnb's IPO Filing

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: Airbnb Experiences in New York City? How is Airbnb Experiences doing financially? It was tough to tell from its registration statement. Airbnb

Skift Take

What are the prospects of Airbnb becoming a full-service online travel agency with the ability to go head-to-head with Booking.com. We know from the S-1 statement that Airbnb isn't profitable and you can walk away from reading the massive document without great insight into so many potential growth initiatives.

Airbnb's S-1 registration statement was a tease — there was a ton of information about red ink over the years, but there seemed to be key areas unanswered. Lumping "gross nights and experiences booked" seems like an obfuscation, giving true clarity to neither category. Airbnb stated, "From July through September 2020, gross nights and experiences booked have been stable, down approximately 20% relative to the same period in the prior year." We know that Airbnb hasn't been a profitable company, but there is no clarity in the S-1 as to how much of a burn the experiences business has turned out to be since the company debu

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