4 Airbnb Takeaways From the Third Quarter
Photo Credit: Airbnb host greeting participants in a bread-baking experience in 2019. Airbnb said in 2021 more people are interested in hosting. Airbnb
Skift Take
We are just asking the question: With all of the disruption in the travel industry over the past 12 months, is it reasonable to believe that the number of hosts on Airbnb hasn't changed an iota?
Since late 2020 to its third quarter earnings report, Airbnb has consistently reported that it has four million hosts on the platform. Given all of the havoc that the pandemic engineered, have those ranks not budged one way or another?
We looked at that issue and three other takeaways from Airbnb's third-quarter report, which saw the company proclaim its best quarter ever.
Curious Host Numbers and the Marketing CampaignsDuring its third quarter earnings call last week, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky was bullish about the company's "Made Possible by Hosts" marketing campaign, its first major brand blitz in five years, that was aimed at attracting new customers and hosts.
Chesky said "now finally more people were interested in hosting than ever before" and the Airbnb is "inspiring more people to become hosts." Referring to the marketing campaign and a slew of product initiatives, such as a streamlined onboarding process for hosts, Chesky said "we're recruiting more hosts and setting them up for success."
The company said in its shareholder letter last week that after running a digital campaign to recruit hosts earlier this year, traffic to Airbnb's hosting landing page climbed 25 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.
However, on Friday, which was the latest update, and as part of other financial filings since the end of 2020, Airbnb has consistently reported to the Securities and Exchange Commis
