Airbnb News

Booking.com clearly operates in Airbnb's shadow in short-term rentals. Although long-term stays are currently a hot commodity, Booking.com is tardy in enabling such capabilities. That's a fitting symbol for the current state of play.

The bean counters, meaning the financial experts, at all of the major online travel companies have their work cut out for them as they monitor and try to predict the shape and timing of any potential travel recovery. These companies need to be nimble, and hoard their cash.

Stay deep or go wide? Online travel companies from Expedia to Airbnb and Booking.com are grappling with these issues. Focusing on core products can clearly be a winning formula, but when you are a public company, pressure to generate growth from new areas is a constant conundrum.

Airbnb advisor Chip Conley had some grounding messages about the company he has seen grow into a force in travel. Never forget the original mission on which the homesharing giant was launched. It hasn't, says Conley.

Booking.com has prided itself on being a household name in its European home base, but will have a tough time avoiding a European Commission designation of gatekeeper. Such stature could bring increased restrictions.

In Skift's top travel stories this week, we covered the Airbnb IPO from every angle. There were other stories, too, including Google launching new tools for destinations and hotels, a road warrior who's flown three dozen times since September, a property manager picking up Stay Alfred scraps.

You can't make this stuff up. Airbnb's payout to HotelTonight of 3.2 million shares didn't appear very attractive when Airbnb's business almost collapsed in the spring. On paper, though, it's all looking very good right now.

Airbnb's IPO was a talking point across the two days, but this summit dived into rich and diverse sectors that have weathered the pandemic surprisingly well. The best is yet to come.

Thursday was a historic day for Airbnb and the travel industry at large. Airbnb is a excellent business, but is it a $100 billion business?

Kudos to Airbnb for a dramatic comeback in its initial public offering. But the valuation, propelled by euphoric investors in a hot IPO market, was divorced from reality.