Airbnb bets on summer of travel to drive revenue growth

Vacation rental firm Airbnb Inc projected second-quarter revenue above market estimates on Tuesday, betting on pent-up demand to drive a summer of strong travel after Covid-19 curbs were eased globally.

The San Francisco-based firm expects revenue between $2.03 billion and $2.13 billion, compared with the average analyst expectation of $1.96 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The rise of hybrid working has in recent months encouraged people to book longer and more frequent stays in destinations away from cities, giving a boost to rental providers.

"We are going to continue to see continued and sustained growth for stays of longer than a month and stays of longer than a week," Chief Executive Brian Chesky said on a call with analysts.

Shares of the company rose more than 4% in extended trading.

Airbnb, which made a slew of changes to its service last year to take advantage of the post-pandemic travel surge, said it posted the strongest growth in gross nights booked in non-urban areas in the first three months of 2022.

Gross booked nights in urban destinations also rose sharply to above pre-pandemic levels, while the number of nights and experiences booked - a key metric of the platform's performance - exceeded 100 million for the first time.

That along with a 37% surge in average daily rates over 2019 levels drove Airbnb's revenue 70% higher from a year earlier. The company reported a net loss of 3 cents per share which was much smaller than analysts' estimates.

"Airbnb exceeded expectations on almost every line item, with strong bookings trends for the summer and balance of the year," Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian said.

"Travel recovery in urban areas, cross-border and APAC (Asia-Pacific) should fuel additional bookings growth in the coming quarters/years," he added.