Airbnb Boosts Marketing Advantage Over Rivals in 2nd Quarter

If one hadn't become so accustomed to it over the last few years, then Airbnb's sales and marketing advantage over its major rivals would be stunning. Then again, Airbnb widened that gap in the second quarter.

In the accompanying chart, Skift examined online travel and short-term rental players sales and marketing spend as a percentage of revenue in the second quarter, and Airbnb's brand advantage was blinding.

Airbnb shelled out just 18 percent of revenue in the June quarter on sales and marketing while Booking Holdings allocated 51.3 percent and Expedia Group 53.9 percent.

Executives at Airbnb routinely point out that, for the public, "Airbnb" has become a noun and a verb, and that's apparent when one sees how relatively little Airbnb spends on sales and marketing. Executives at Expedia and Booking Holdings readily acknowledge that Airbnb has created a great brand, and they labor to get a semblance of the direct traffic to their websites and apps that Airbnb generates.

Online Travel Q2 Marketing Spend as Percentage of Revenue Company Q2 2022 Sales and Marketing Spend Percent of Revenue Sonder $12.4 million 10.2 percent Airbnb $379.8 million 18 percent Vacasa $62.3 million 20 percent Booking $2.2 billion 51.3 percent Expedia $1.7 billion 53.9 percent Tripadvisor $217 million 52 percent Trivago $92.4 million 63.8 percent

Source: Financial filings

Airbnb Versus Booking Holdings and Expedia

Airbnb bested its