Skift Take
New data from AirDNA show that corporate hosts wield huge power on Airbnb's platform despite the fact that individual hosts make up more than 90 percent of hosting's ranks. Airbnb is empowering the growth of these property managers, but the result could be disenchanted hosts and guests.
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Airbnb's strategy since the onset of the pandemic has shifted from striving to be a super brand of travel, with flights and hotels, to being a super band of hosts.
Airbnb's current global TV and digital campaign — in which it spent close to $9 million just on U.S. TV in the first week — that's designed to spread awareness of hosting on Airbnb shows the company is indeed going deep rather than wide. Sure, it is making a major play in Experiences, but the overall goal is to nurture growth among its ranks of hosts rather than focusing on flights and hotels, which it might return to later.
Individuals Versus Corporates
"Airbnb is a community of 4 million hosts, 90 percent are individuals, and they are who we prioritize because that's where our guests speak," CEO Brian Chesky told financial analysts last week. "Our guests want something that's one of a kind, and this is typically offered by our individual host."
That 90 percent figure may actually be an underestimate of the percentage of individual hosts. AirDNA found that in January 2021, 67.3 percent of hosts worldwide had just one listing, and 27.7 percent offered 2-5, for a total of 9