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08.11.2023 - 16:05 / skift.com / Brian Chesky / Sarah Kopit
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says 2023 marks the end of the company’s focus on perfecting its core business. He’s spent the past two years gathering feedback from hosts and guests to get the basic product right. Now, he says he’s ready to move forward and launch new things.
The company, founded on the idea that homeowners could make extra cash by renting out a spare room, surged in popularity during the pandemic.
The aftermath, however, seemingly left everyone complaining. For guests it was the cleaning fees. For hosts, a blow to their profit margins as the world returned to the office. And municipalities – most notably travel and tourism behemoth New York City – started enforcing regulations.
Skift spoke with Chesky as Airbnb was releasing a new round of product features. In our interview, Chesky addressed the biggest challenges Airbnb faces and what comes next.
The top takeaways are below, edited for clarity:
The reason I thought [New York City] was a cautionary tale is because a lot of people ask me are other cities going to copy? I said, well, actually, it turns out most cities – at least most big cities, 80% of big cities – talk to other cities.
And so London and Paris and Los Angeles and Chicago and we can go down the list – they’re all different, but they all have found a solution that New York has not found. Where they have, typically, a registration system where they say how many nights a year you can rent. And if it’s a city with limited housing that might be a little more restrictive.
If it’s a vacation destination, they’ll probably have no restrictions because they live and die by that. Two-thirds of homes on Airbnb in the United States or according to census data are where there’s no hotel. So if the city were to restrict Airbnb, no one’s ever visiting that city.
And I don’t think you ever want a town or city in the world, that I’m aware of, where you want it flooded only with tourists. But I think the inverse may also be true.
I don’t think there’s a lot of communities where you never want an outsider. When’s the last time, like, ‘no outsiders allowed’ was that good and healthy for a community? So I think the right balance is to redistribute travel.
I think overtourism isn’t too many people traveling. It’s too many people going to the same place, at the same time.
They should probably go to small towns. I remember I went to Paris and the Minister of Tourism told me, we want people to not go to Paris but to go to other small towns in France and spread out and not overwhelm them. I think the problem is if everyone goes to one town, and I think that certain towns get fashionable, and it’s not even really an Airbnb thing.
I mostly want people to know that we’re going to collaborate
Chase has a partnership with Gopuff, a delivery service that can bring you groceries, home essentials and more to your door. Eligible Chase credit cardholders can receive up to $10 in statement credits on Gopuff purchases each month.
After the 20-minute sail across southeast Lombok's Awang Bay, stepping onto the honey-hued sands of Innit feels like arriving at a private island retreat. It's easy to be fooled into thinking you're all alone here: Mammoth boulders and steep cliffs border the shore on one side, and a string of undeveloped coves stretches out from the other. Wedged in between, Innit's seven beach houses are the only signs of life. Designed by celebrated Indonesian architects Gregorius Yolodi and Andra Matin, who took cues from Lombok's stilted lumbung barns, they all feature two terrazzo-floor bedrooms surrounded by glass walls and vertical slats made from local timber. Down at the breezy restaurant, Indonesian classics such as deconstructed gado gado with tempeh cubes and cabbage roll-ups are served with endearing fine-dining pizzazz. Innit can also organize paddleboard tours, surf lessons, and spear-fishing expeditions, followed by a bonfire on the beach, where the catch is grilled.
You can't just say you've surfed Indonesia – it's like saying you've hiked the Himalayas.
St. Pete/Clearwater closed out the year with a strong September, generating a 2.4% increase in hotel bed tax funds compared to September 2022, despite Hurricane Idalia’s impact on the destination during Labor Day weekend.
The renewed collaboration will include the FIFA World Cup 26, FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027, and FIFA World Cup 2030, as well as youth tournaments starting with FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia.
A travel influencer received some hilarious voice notes from his Airbnb host, warning him that monkeys could break into the house if he didn't shut the windows properly, seeking bananas.
Airbnb announced today that it has appointed former White House chief of staff and a prominent figure in Democratic circles Ron Klain as its chief legal officer. A close Biden aide, Klain will begin his role at the company starting January 1.
From his posts and re-posts on X, it’s clear that Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is highly supportive of Sam Altman, the ousted CEO of OpenAI, and now-former board Chairman Greg Brockman, and Chesky seems to be in-the-know about some of the maneuverings behind the scenes.
Earlier this year, I went on a trip around India. Before returning home to the UK, I took a detour to Bali, Indonesia.
Is Airbnb leaving money on the table, and could it generate more revenue by hiking host fees and introducing sponsored listings?
Airbnb, Booking.com, and Expedia Group have agreed to share data with the UK’s Office for National Statistics by spring 2024.