The accommodation platform Airbnb aims to expand its presence in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky announced on Tuesday that Airbnb is also leveraging artificial intelligence to completely change the user experience in the app.
In the past quarter, Airbnb’s revenue increased by 17% year-on-year, reaching $2.2 billion (CHF 1.9 billion). By the end of the year, the platform offered more than 7.7 million flats and houses for overnight stays – an 18% increase compared to the previous year. The most significant growth was observed in the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.
The number of accommodations in Switzerland grew by 30% between 2021 and 2022, said Emmanuel Marill, the head of the Europe, Africa, and Middle East region, who shared this information with the news agency AWP last November. He attributed the growth to word of mouth.
Room for growth
However, there are still nine Airbnb customers for every one who stay in a hotel, said Chesky in Tuesday’s conference call with analysts. Therefore, there is still plenty of room for growth.
At the bottom line, Airbnb reported a loss of $349 million in the last quarter, following a profit of $319 million a year earlier. The company attributed this loss to a one-off tax charge of around one billion dollars.
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