Airbnb announced Thursday that it had earned $834 million in record revenue for the third quarter. This was due to more people getting vaccinated and returning to travel.
Companies closed their offices to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Some employees were able to work remotely via video technology. Airbnb claimed that this resulted in a significant increase in rental rates.
In a letter to shareholders, the San Francisco-based home-sharing firm stated that it believes the trend towards work flexibility will increase. It pointed out that Amazon and Ford have both announced flexible work policies and that it expects others to do the same.
Airbnb reported that its net income was almost four times the $219m it earned in the previous year and nearly three times the $267m it reported for the third quarter 2019.
Revenue rose 67% compared to a year ago, and 36% compared to the same quarter of 2019, at $2.24 billion. According to FactSet, analysts expected $2.06 trillion.
However, cancellations were still higher than before the pandemic.
Airbnb is often at its best in the third quarter. It loses money often in the other quarters.
Airbnb stated that stays of 28 days and longer are its fastest-growing category. This account accounted for 20% of all nights booked in the quarter. This is a significant increase from the 14% prior to the pandemic.
According to the company, bookings in North America increased 10% while Latin America saw a 20% increase over the previous period. The slow recovery of international travel has caused a decline in bookings in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.
