Skift Take

Before the pandemic turned the world sideways, nearly 12 percent of Airbnb's revenue last year came from its top 10 cities. But among them, cities like Lisbon and San Diego are taking radical steps to limit their short-term rental portfolios. Are investors overlooking the likelihood of vastly more stringent regulations?

Series: Dennis' Online Travel Briefing

Dennis' Online Travel Briefing

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Executive Editor and online travel rockstar Dennis Schaal will bring readers exclusive reporting and insight into the business of online travel and digital booking, and how this sector has an impact across the travel industry.

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Online Travel This Week A blockbuster initial public offering, such as the $35 billion kind some envision for Airbnb, will be irresistible to amateur investors, but are some of the seasoned pros hopping on board and too easily dismissing the regulatory obstacles in Airbnb's future? Look, Airbnb has built an amazing brand, changed the way we travel, and I'm writing right now from one of its rentals in Puerto Rico. So I partake. However, I'm not a financial analyst, and don't want to opine on whether to jump in, or stay away from Airbnb as a long-term investment. But I do believe that Airbnb's future won't be as footloose and carefree as some Silicon Valley sycophants and others seem to believe. How soon it is that everyone seems to have forgotten the alarm bells set off in 2014 when Skift, among others, summed up a Morgan Stanley report about Airbnb like this: "Airbnb has reached peak Airbnb, at least in its most mature markets in the U.S. and Europe."

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Along those lines,