REUTERS/Mike Segar
- Airbnb hosts range from school teachers to healthcare workers and can make about $10,000 per year.
- Airbnb is facilitating its host program to allow more users to become hosts and grow their businesses, the company said.
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Airbnb hosts range from school teachers to healthcare professionals, with the average person making under $10,000 a year, said Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky during an interview aired Saturday on Yahoo Finance.
The company, which currently has four million hosts worldwide as of September 2020, is working on ways to facilitate its host program to attract those who want to join either as a hobby or a business, Chesky said.
Airbnb will continue to invest in pricing tools and advanced calendar tools, among other features and dashboards to allow hosts to build and grow their business on the short-term rental platform.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit travel hard, but Airbnb says its weathering the storm better than some traditional players. Many people who had to travel during the height of the coronavirus pandemic opted for home stays over hotels and picked destinations closer to home.
“Our performance in 2020 showed that Airbnb is resilient and inherently adaptable,” Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s CEO, said in a statement this week when the platform released fourth-quarter results. “Travel is coming back and we are laser-focused on preparing for the travel rebound.”
Earlier this month, Airbnb said it will develop a new tool to help Airbnb hosts ensure that their guests are healthy before they check-in through "Healthy Safety Attestation."
Hosts will be able to use the optional tool to request an attestation from guests stating that they don't have COVID-19 symptoms and that they haven't been exposed to the virus.
Airbnb reported its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, posting $859 million in revenue, beating analyst expectations, according to Yahoo Finance.
The home rental platform had 46.3 million booked nights and "experiences" in the fourth quarter, amounting to a gross booking value of $5.9 billion.
Due to the pandemic, the platform expected a revenue decline in 2020 compared to 2019. Airbnb brought in $3.4 billion, down 30% from its 2019 revenue of $4.8 billion.
Airbnb plans to focus on travel rebound, according to Chesky, as the company anticipates that travel demand will be local-oriented in the upcoming period. Chesky believes that individuals would want to travel to destinations closer to home and communities rather than board international trips.