Airbnb Inc released its Q1 financial results on May 13, after the market closed. For the first quarter of 2021, revenue was $887 million, a figure higher than Q1 2020 revenue of $842 million and Q1 2019 revenue of $839 million.
Despite cities and global travel not recovering yet, Airbnb had raised revenue above pre-pandemic levels.
Revenue and Booking Performance
Airbnb reported revenue of $887 million, which was 6% higher than the same period two years ago before the onset of the pandemic.
Gross booking value, Airbnb’s way of tracking host earnings, service fees, cleaning fees and taxes, totaled $10.3 billion, up 52% year over year and above the $7.87 billion FactSet consensus; up 3% compared with the same period in 2019.
Financial Losses
The company had a loss in the quarter of $1.17 billion, or $1.95 a share, including a $377 million loss related to the repayment of debt, a $292 million non-cash mark-to-market adjustment for warrants, and a $113 million expense related to a lease no longer deemed necessary.
Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2021 materially improved due to a reduction in operating expenses and was a loss of $59 million compared to a loss of $334 million in Q1 2020.
Resilience and Growth Areas
Q1 2021 revenue was up 5% year-over-year, demonstrating Airbnb’s resilience, but net loss (-132%) was impacted by certain significant items, related to the payoff of debt.
More than a year after the start of the pandemic, Airbnb’s business has continued to prove highly resilient, areas of strength included North America, domestic travel, nearby stays, long-term stays, and stays in less densely populated areas. Airbnb also saw growth in family and group travel, especially outside of cities. These areas of strength were reflected in our Q4 2020 results and continued in Q1 2021
In 2019, only 14% of our nights booked were longer than 28 days. That’s now 24%. And so Airbnb thinks this is a huge growth area, basically a quarter of Airbnb’s business is not even travel anymore.
In Q1 2021, long-term stays represented 24% of nights booked (prior to cancellations and alterations). In addition, 50% of nights booked were from stays of at least seven nights in Q1. Guests are confident in booking travel further in advance, overall global lead times averaged over 40 days in Q1 2021.
Marketing and Future Plans
Sales and marketing expenses for Q1 2021 decreased by 28% year-over-year to $229 million. Airbnb’s strategy is to increase brand marketing and use the strength of our brand to attract more guests via direct or unpaid channels.
Business Highlights
Areas of strength included North America, domestic travel, nearby stays, long-term stays, and stays in less-densely populated areas.
- People are also travelling differently: Nearly a quarter (24%) of nights booked prior to cancellations and alterations in Q1 were for long-term stays, defined as stays of 28 days or more, compared to 14% in 2019. Fifty percent of nights booked in the quarter were from stays of at least seven nights.
- Guests are confident in booking travel further in advance. Overall global lead times averaged over 40 days in Q1 2021.
- Improvements Across the Entire Airbnb Experience highlights include: Guests Faster checkout process – We’ve reduced the number of steps for new guests to confirm their first reservation.
Airbnb will be announcing new measures to make it easier for hosts to sign up, as well as new platform innovations, at an event on May 24.
KozyGuru believes that the signs are all pointing to a gradual recovery in tourism in the second half of 2021, coupled with a significant increase in overnight bookings, which means that Airbnb hosts will have an excellent opportunity to improve this year.
The main reason for this is the increased willingness of people to travel and book accommodation in their home country, in contrast to the cancellations at the beginning of the outbreak. For example, after the UK government announced its plans to lift the ban in February, a significant increase in bookings in the country. The lifting of travel restrictions in France earlier this month has also led to a rise in demand for bookings.
KozyGuru expects revenue for the second quarter of 2021 to grow significantly over the same period last year and is expected to return to the same level as in 2019, while a recovery in demand for urban and suburban travel is expected to support growth in the coming quarters.
Are you prepared for such an optimistic future?
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May has been a bumper month for new bookings. Australians travellers set to rebound strongly over summer and into 2021.
We’re receiving extreme demand for beachfront properties from Sydney, Goldcoast, Brisbane and require more properties to meet growing guest demand and booking enquiries.
Now is the best time to find your property’s earning potential on the Airbnb and short-term rental market.
