I just had this come up last weekend. My family and I were making plans to go to Savannah Georgia to see the beautiful city. I researched places to sleep, both airbnb's and hotels all within the historic district and just outside of it. At first glance, there were some airbnb's where the price per night was similar to the hotels. But when I went to confirm, I noticed the fees that were added to the price. I was shocked! There was almost a $400 cleaning fee for the two nights. There was also some other fees that I didnt even bother looking into since I knew there is no way I would stay there. In the end, I choose a chain hotel with a pool, free breakfast, and clean rooms. It was a wayyyyy lower total price. I didnt need "the experience" since I was just going to sleep there. I didnt need a kitchen since I wanted to explore Savannah's local food for lunch and dinner. I have a feeling this is the exact reason airbnb is declining in stock price. Smart people have caught on to their trickery and are not going to support it anymore.
We travel a lot, and frankly I'm shocked to see so much Airbnb hate. The experience we get at Airbnbs has always far surpassed our hotel experiences, and it's not close. We have actually saved a lot of money using Airbnb abroad too - especially considering that we can cook our own meals. In fact the main reason we started using Airbnb was to save money, although the difference has normalized over the years. I feel strongly that travel would be less enjoyable without Airbnb.
I just wish they improve their app, it still has a lot of small glitches and they should create more way for people to search for listing and planing trip base on their route
Airbnb cleaning fee is ridiculous at least in USA. Who pays the cleaning fee of $$$ and still have to do the trash, clean dishes, remove bedsheets, put towels in the washing machine and what not! Ridiculous.
First of all let me point out that the cleaning fee is set by the hosts not Airbnb. Airbnb takes a bigger cut than they should but that's another story. On the point of cleaning fees, I do not know how much you are being charged but from the host side, I can tell you I take 100$ from the guest 1 time but my cleaner takes 120$ before and 120$ after the stay (because I do not run Airbnb back to back) so I actually lose money on the cleaning. I know in this economy every fee hurts but believe me you don't want to stay in an undercleaned apartment because some people are nasty.
I thought the exact same thing when I was looking at hotels/airbnb's in Savannah Georgia last weekend. At first glance, the nightly rate was almost equal to a hotel. When I went to confirm, it showed the fees..........$400 cleaning fee for a two night stay! There were also a couple of other fees but I was so shocked I didnt even waste 1 more second looking. 100% Completely Ridiculous!
1/3 of income before taxes came from interest income. Must be nice? I think that's horrific. First, if investors want a cash return they don't need Airbnb shares for that. Second, that income isn't going to hang around if rates fall. Third, if they do fall, the price of everything else is going up, so chances to use that cash are going to be limited. I didn't like that number at all.
I was thinking along the same line. Cash should be reinvested at higher rates. Also, the buybacks while the stock was overvalued is a waste of money, as we can see by the continued falling price. At least he admited that he's biased because of ownership.
Bnb success formula: good location, reasonable rates, no extra fees ( cleaning etc ), no BS demands to strip beds, clean up etc. Make it easy and hassle free. We're booked year round 75 /100%
I have traveled across the entire America with mostly AirBnB…the experience is so much better. You get to know the local, warm feeling of a house and you can do your own laundry. And a lot of time you can get closer to the center of the tourist attraction for cheaper prices. People having bad experiences mainly because they don’t do research well enough before booking. The key to make sure to have a pleasant experience here is you have to look at the host’s reviews
I've already seen hotels on Airbnb in Europe. Its pretty much the same thing. Most hotel chains are really just platforms. Maybe airbnb would benefit from a credit card and loyalty program....
If you just stay a couple of days in one place, the cleaning fees make ABNBN basically uncompetitive compared to Hotels unless you rent a place it’s a lot of other folks together.
I prefer staying in airbnb vacation rental over a hotel, especially in North America. There are better sleeping options for families with older kids or more than two kids and also for singles. I also find it cheaper usually and more comfortable. In Europe and Asia, hotels seem to have more diverse options.
as far as I see it Airbnb doesn't produce anything, doesn't have to have inventory, or ship stuff from oversees but it continues to take cuts from every transaction so its bottom line is going to be fine, regardless of the economy state, it might go lower for the recession period but they not at risk of going bankrupt, because people always will travel and I personally hate to be cramped in the small hotel rooms + I travel with the dog so it's always Airbnb only for me. People I host are traveling nurses and interns and new newcomers to the country, when we talking long-term stays hotels not even an alternative because many people like me prefer feel of a real home than 4x4 box of a hotel. Add to this that they are slowly expending into experiences and I only see growth for them.
As the economy decelerates, consumers are becoming more price conscious. You can see this in Amazon's earnings call, saying consumers are preferring cheaper products. I stayed in Airbnb for few nights in Toronto. After paying the host, and Airbnb surcharge, it ended up costing more than stay at Hampton Inn. At Hampton Inn, breakfast is included.
Last Straw was a very expensive Airbnb in PA where the hottub was gross and the sauna was completely broken. Instructions for leaving included a list of things I was supposed to clean and prepare. Of eight experiences with Airbnb only one was really good. The rest, many years ago, were just mediocre. But finally I'm done.
So you are telling me that people don’t like taking the trash out, washing the sheets and towels and still having to pay a $250 cleaning fee? I’m shocked
Eventually, growth will slow. When it does, the deferred revenue from years past should more roughly match the deferred revenue in the current period (they're still holding onto roughly the same amount of money that people have paid for -- but not used for their vacations)
from my experience (single, no kids) Airbnb is bad because 1. too expensive- ridiculous cleaning fee. ends up being more expensive than hotels 2. Not always as clean as hotels 3. getting the key from the owners can be a pain sometimes 4. Some bad actors are now getting caught planting cameras- makes me think twice 5. jacks up local rental price when people buy a bunch of properties and rent out for jacked up prices. Personally, can't wait to see this company go down fast enough.
There are cheaper non-hotel alternatives as well. Airbnb used to be great when ordinary people used it to supplement income. Now there are companies with many holdings renting out properties or individuals looking to get rich through renting.
Airbnb is a really unremarkable business that doesn't deserve a tech valuation. it doesn't really have network effects or a moat the competition is fierce and they want to take a 50% cut because they run an app.
My thoughts regarding moat, iam located in europe. If i travel (asia, south america, europe) i always use booking because of loyalty benefits and the options to choose apartments, hotel or hostel rooms. Friends of mine do the same. Plus many times offers from abnb are available (and sometimes cheaper) on Booking. I prefer hotel or hostel rooms over abnb if i travel alone or with 2 ppl. But i never travel to US which is there biggest market. Iam using abnb mostly beacause of the experience section which is better integrated than on booking. But if abnb would offer hotels and a loyalty program, i probably would use it more often.
Honestly, you need to look from unbiased lens. $ABNB growth is slowing, interest from FCF saved them a bit but next quarters the interest would go down. VRBO with lower take rate, and hotels incentivizing grand vacation stay are eating ABNB moat.
We stopped using Airbnb because we consistently encountered cleanliness issues. Unfortunately, many hotels have similar problems. Some hotels don't change the sheets after every guest, which is unacceptable. However, I’ve found Holiday Inn Express to be a cheap and clean alternative to both Airbnb and other budget hotels.
i think the moat is narrowing and a potential to narrow going fwd. Meta could offer this service and definitely distrupt airbnb but then again the big tech is hot water with anti-trust lawsuits
Can’t confuse declining travel segment (which will eventually recover) with a declining business. Airbnb is still growing faster than Booking and has other positive attributes such as founder led, higher margin etc
I stopped using Airbnb when our host cancelled day-of, and Airbnb had no options for us despite the fact the host cancelled with no notice. Had to book a ratty motel at the last-minute price. Airbnb doesn't care about the customer, so it's hard to believe in them as a buy-and-hold, regardless of how strong the network effects may be.
In my opinion, the demand on a lot of things is going down because people are becoming more and more aware of their finance which lead them to start saving and slow down on buying things.
Just a trendy idea like SQ PayPal, lyft etc, look at where they are now craping in the trash I've been short and will continue to short it to maybe a 10 bill to 15 bill not 70bill
The period after pandemic was characterized as "revenge travel" so perhaps we're seeing a tapering off/moderation of that since we are enough time out from the end of the pandemic, coupled with people trying to save money.
AirB and Bust! The experience isn't that great anymore. Laundry list of host demands, insane "cleaning fees" and the general hassle of uneven accommodations. VRBO is going upmarket and hotels still exist downmarket, so why would anyone bother with AirBnB? Now they're going to soil the brand by becoming Expedia? Halp!
I am actually fed up with this company. I had a couple of bookings but my experience as a customer was terrible. I will never ever use that company again so why should I invest in a company I don't like?
Agree, no moat. But it fills a market niche. I hate hotels. Way too expensive and they mislead me when I search for a place to places they want me to see.
