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Strong travel demand, major events and an uptick in the average cost of booking helped boost Airbnb’s revenue to $2.14 billion in the first quarter, an 18 percent growth from the previous year as the world leader in short-term rentals continued its rapid expansion path.
The strong performance was buoyed by the timing of Easter, a popular travel holiday that typically lands in the second quarter but which this year fell in late March.
The company posted a total profit of $264 million for the quarter, up 126 percent from a year ago.
The company’s revenue growth outpaced the increase in total nights booked and gross booking value, which grew by 9.5 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said his company’s focus on tamping down prices and driving up value for travelers helped lead to a successful quarter.
“The net of all of it is that hotel prices are up year over year and [the price of] Airbnb listings on a like for like basis are down,” Chesky told investors in a call on Wednesday. “Today the value for an Airbnb versus a hotel is better than a year ago. I think that trend will continue.”
The company makes that comparison by looking at the price of hotel bookings alongside that of a one-bedroom Airbnb listing. Chesky said it costs $114 for a one-bedroom Airbnb compared to a hotel room, which he said was $148.
In the first three months of the year, travelers made 132.6 million bookings for nights stayed in an Airbnb or an experience, like an activity that hosts can provide for travelers.
Despite its billions of dollars in cash, the company has largely remained in the position of frugality that it adopted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when the travel industry was briefly upended before rebounding rapidly.
As the largest short-term rental company, Airbnb has focused on improving its core services, bringing more supply online and expanding internationally. It has also been buying back outstanding stock.
The total number of listings in the quarter grew by 17 percent. That growth came as the company focused on expanding in international markets and as it continued its focus on working with multifamily operators in the U.S. who allow renters to offer their apartments on Airbnb.
Specifically, the company is looking into expanding in Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Japan, Korea, China and eventually India, Chesky said.
By focusing on international expansion, Chesky said Airbnb could quickly continue its path to growth.
“The majority of our people are still focused on the core business,” Chesky said. “I believe we’re still just scratching the surface of the size of our core business.”
