Airbnb Continues to Rebound from the Covid-19 Pandemic 

Airbnb surpassed Wall Street estimates on earnings, as well as revenue, in its fourth quarter, as the company continued to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The travel company expects first-quarter 2022 nights and experiences booked to surpass Q1 2019 levels considerably. Airbnb estimates revenue to decline between $1.41 billion and $1.48 billion in the first quarter of 2022. 

It reported 73.4 million nights and experiences booked in the fourth quarter, down nearly 8% from the previous quarter ad missing estimates. Nevertheless, the figure is up 59% year-over-year, when the pandemic weighed heavily on the travel industry.

Airbnb and its results 

In its fourth-quarter letter to shareholders, the travel company said that it recovered quickly from the impacts of the pandemic. Airbnb said the adverse effects of Omicron on bookings and cancellations were lower than the company experienced with the delta variant. 

Gross nights booked in the last month of the year were up more than 40% compared to 2020 according to Airbnb.

Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.5 billion, up 78% year over year. The company reported $55 million in net income, its first Q4 profit. It’s a decrease from the third quarter but a huge improvement from the $3.89 billion net loss Airbnb posted in Q4 2020. 

Gross booking value, which the travel company uses to track host earnings, service fees, cleaning fees and taxes, totaled $11.3 billion in the fourth quarter. 

Average daily rates jumped 20% from a year ago to $154 in the last quarter of 2021.

The travel company has spent much of its time focusing on a sort of “travel revolution” as remorse work becomes a more permanent option for many across the U.S.

Consequently, the company said average trip length during the past two years rose by about 15%. In the meantime, long-term stays of 28 nights or more continued to be its fastest-growing category by trip length.