Holidays are still “on” despite the economy, says Airbnb, which reports record bookings

By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN

Airbnb on Tuesday reported strong revenue growth and a new booking record for the first three months of the year, a sign that travel demand remains strong despite ongoing recession fears.

Airbnb shares fell more than 10% on Wednesday after the travel company offered a more dovish outlook for the current quarter than some analysts had expected.

The company reported that revenue for the quarter rose 20% to $1.8 billion, just beating Wall Street estimates. The company said nights and experiences booked on the platform hit a record high of over 120 million in the most recent quarter.

“More guests are traveling with Airbnb than ever before,” CEO Brian Chesky said when speaking to analysts on Tuesday. “Despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties, we have recorded the highest number of active bookers ever.”

“During the quarter, we also saw guests booking travel further in advance, supporting a strong backlog for the second quarter,” he added. “We were particularly encouraged by the ongoing recovery in Asia Pacific, as room nights booked increased more than 40% year over year in the first quarter.”

Airbnb also reported net income of about $117 million, compared to a net loss in the same period last year.

But the company’s guidance for the current quarter “disappoints on both the upper and lower lines,” Barclays analysts said in a note Wednesday morning.

In its letter to shareholders, Airbnb said it had earlier timing its marketing spend to the first half of the year to support the peak summer travel season. The company is also increasing its investments in brand marketing in additional countries around the world.

Tom White, senior research analyst at DA Davidson, said the lackluster guidance for the current quarter was likely impacted by the company starting its brand advertising spend earlier year-over-year, but noted that it also raised concerns about demand could raise.

Some of the company’s skeptics “can cite this as evidence [Airbnb] is struggling to maintain its growth rate in a global post-pandemic reopening and we believe there is some truth to that.”

But White wrote that he believes there are still “promising incremental” avenues for Airbnb to spur growth “over the next 12 to 24 months.”

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