What is Airbnb up to in 2024? Strategy analyzed + Bold predictions

Dear vacation rental industry friends,

What is Airbnb up to? What's next?

In this edition of my newsletter, I'm sharing with you 4 articles that I've researched and written. They delve deep into the heart of Airbnb's strategies, financial health, technological advancements, and speculative future moves. My goal? To go beyond the polished press releases and captivating headlines to uncover the implications of Airbnb's actions on our businesses and the industry at large.

I also make bold predictions for 2024 and 2025. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fun, would it? If you enjoy how I mix booking trends, financial data, and connecting dots that may or may not exist, grab a cup of coffee and let's jive. I'm curious to know how you find my predictions. In the comment section below, let me know what you agree and disagree on.

Here are my 4 new articles:

1. Airbnb's 2024 Strategic Outlook: An analysis of Airbnb's 2024 strategy, blending continuity and innovation, focusing on expanding beyond short-term rentals. Based on Brian Chesky's remarks, I predict shifts towards a host service marketplace, an extended co-hosting marketplace, and the start of work on the Airbnb Concierge app (see below).
2. Airbnb's Financial Landscape: A review of Airbnb's 2023 finances, indicating a market slowdown due to stagnant growth rates and potentially due to an oversupply of listings, as inferred from Airbnb's pricing strategy
3. How Airbnb ranks your properties using AI: An exploration of Airbnb's use of AI in ranking host properties, simplified from two recent research papers, to uncover how your listings are prioritized (or not).
4. The Airbnb Concierge app: A bold prediction about the future: envisioning an 'Airbnb Concierge' app by 2025 that integrates AI to transform Airbnb into a comprehensive lifestyle platform, building on Chesky's hints at an app overhaul.

Best regards,

Thibault Masson

Founder, Rental Scale-Up

Grow your network, add me on LinkedIn.

P.S.: I'm at VRMA Europe in Paris next week. I'll be speaking about pricing algorithms and revenue management strategies in view of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Let me know if you are attending the event too!

2024 Airbnb strategy: my predictions

• Airbnb’s 2024 strategy is officially the same as 2023: More hosts, better core product, expand beyond the core. Yet, after several years focusing on the first two strategic pillars, it looks like 2024 will see Airbnb start expanding its wings further away from short stays and travel.
• Airbnb Accomplishments in 2023: More Hosts, More Listings, Regional Supply Growth, Financial Impact on Hosts
• Here are Rental Scale-Up’s main bets on Airbnb’s moves for 2024:
• The Host Service Marketplace, a marketplace of free and paid services for hosts.
• The larger deployment of the Co-Hosting Marketplace
• The first steps in building a new lifestyle app, the Airbnb Concierge (more on that below).

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ?HERE

Airbnb 2023 financial results: The vacation rental boom is behind us

Airbnb’s 2023 financial results are out and here is what they indicate:

• A steady 14% growth in bookings and 16% rise in Gross Booking Value
• Less than 1% increase in Average Daily Rate, indicating price stability
• An 18% surge in active listings to over 7.7 million, showing robust supply expansion.

Rather than copy-pasting Airbnb’s press release, we share with you a few highlights and what we think they mean. This blend of demand-side growth with a substantial increase in supply marks 2023 as a year of maturation and slowdown for the vacation rental industry.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ?HERE

How Airbnb Uses AI to Rank Your Listings And Boost Its Revenues

• Ranking (Partially) Explained: Discover what influences where your listing appears in Airbnb searches.
• Map Adjustments: Notice how Airbnb's map view changes based on what you're looking for? That's AI at work.
• AI at Airbnb: Learn how Airbnb uses smart technology to make finding the right place easier for everyone.
• Key Tools: Meet the Journey Ranker and Low Inventory State (LSI) — Airbnb's solutions for personalized searches and solving low availability.
• Behind the Scenes: Airbnb's use of AI goes beyond just searches, aiming to enhance the entire hosting and traveling experience. And boost Airbnb’s revenues.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ?HERE

Airbnb Concierge: An AI-powered lifestyle super app

• What if? Airbnb CEO’s has been alluding to Airbnb completely redesigning its app and using AI to become a lifestyle super service.
• At Rental Scale-Up, we’ve imagined what it could look like.
• Will Airbnb Concierge become the lifestyle app that will replace not only Booking and Vrbo, but also MeetUp, Turo, BlaBlaCar, ApartmentFinder, and many more?
• We’ve pulled together Airbnb’s existing and talked-about business lines from short-term rentals to apartments for tenants, experiences to car-sharing.
• Then, we’ve thought about how Airbnb could leverage AI and all the data it’s been collecting about you, whether guest or host, to create personalized offers.
• Airbnb Concierge could also foster community through features like roommate matching services and local meetups.
• An integrated payment system will be needed ensure easy and secure transactions across all services, whether payments by users or pay-outs to hosts, car owners, building owners, or experience providers.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ?HERE

That's all for now.

Have a great rest of the week!

Best regards,

Thibault