After a rapid growth in 2024, Airbnb is seeking to expand to new businesses this year
Short-term rental giant Airbnb says its business grew rapidly in the fourth quarter of 2024 as growth in nights booked accelerated in Q4 compared to Q3, leading to over a full-year performance of 491 million nights and experiences booked and Gross Business Volumes of nearly USD 82 billion.
The company says that its revenue surpassed USD 11.1 billion in 2024 driven by strong demand and a modest increase in ADR, as well as its monetisation efforts, including the expansion of its travel insurance service and introduction of an additional service fee amount for cross-currency bookings.
The company has reported an adjusted Earning Before Interest Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBIDTA) of USD 4 billion in 2024, a growth of 11 pc compared to the previous year. It also generated USD 4.5 billion in free cash flow in the year.
In a call with analysts, Brian Chesky, Chief Executive Officer, Airbnb, said that the company was now looking at newer business areas, beyind the short-term rental and that it planned to spend as much as USD 250 million on new businesses in 2025.
Brian Chesky
“This is the year, you will see the beginning of a new Airbnb,” Chesky said.
“When people book an Airbnb, there is a lot of experiences and services and other things that would make this stay more special, and it would even include things they wouldn’t think to search for. Eventually we’ll move it further and further away from our core,” Chesky said.
“Airbnb is used by, I think, 1.6 billion devices a year, so it has got a pretty big volume of users, but we are not a very frequently used app. People typically use this once or twice a year, and I would love for the one day for people to use this once or twice a week. And so that is kind of one of the goals over the long term,” he added.
The company says it plans to expand its Co-Host Network which allows hosts to find local co-hosts to help manage their Airbnb. Co-hosts provide personalised support based on hosts’ needs, from listing setup to managing bookings and communicating with clients.
“By helping take the work out of hosting, we believe we will be able to unlock a significant amount of high-quality supply. In the four months since launching, Co-Host Network has grown to support almost 100,000 listings. These listings earn approximately twice as much as Airbnb listings in comparable countries. We launched Co-Host Network in 10 countries, and are expanding it to Japan and Korea in the coming months,” adds the company in a statement.
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