Airbnb has planned to lay off 1,900 staff, around a quarter of its global workforce, as it expects revenue in 2020 to be half of the $4.8bn (£3.9bn) generated in 2019.
Brian Chesky, its chief executive and co-founder, described the coronavirus as “the most heartbreaking crisis of our lifetimes”. He told staff: ‘We don’t know exactly when travel will return. When the trip returns, it will look different.
Airbnb has employees in 24 countries. Its headquarters are in San Francisco and its European headquarters in Dublin, where it employs around 500 people. Some of the biggest job cuts are likely to be in new areas of the business, such as Airbnb “Luxe””, which offers what he describes as high-end homes and dedicated travel designers.
“People will want options that are closer to home, safer and more affordable,” Chesky said.
Airbnb said there were signs of a slight recovery in some places, adding that there was growing evidence of European travelers booking properties in their own countries this summer rather than abroad. foreigner.
The accommodation platform told the Financial Times that domestic bookings in Denmark were around 90% of April 2019 levels, while in the Netherlands they were approaching 80%.
Airbnb joins airlines and tour operators in reducing their workforce during the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, British Airways announced 12,000 employees would be made redundantand on Tuesday, Virgin Atlantic announced that it would reduce 3,000 jobs and mothballed its operations at Gatwick.
Airbnb’s revenue slump has thwarted its IPO plans this year. The planned IPO of more than $40 billion would also have earned many of its employees large payouts, as early entrants to the company were partly compensated in stock options.
This year, Airbnb bolstered its finances with $2 billion in new loans and funding, which reports suggested a valuation of around $18 billion, well below previous expectations.
Email Business Today or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk
Airbnb started life as AirBed & Breakfast in 2008 after Chesky and another co-founder, Joe Gebbia, rented their apartment in San Francisco. The platform has approximately 150 million users and 7 million real estate listings worldwide.
In a blog post detailing the job cuts, Chesky told staff: “I have a deep feeling of love for you all.” Within hours, the laid-off people received an email invitation for a departure meeting, with US and Canadian employees telling them they would be leaving next Monday.
But for some activists battling soaring rents in cities with large numbers of Airbnb hosts, the company’s crisis has money. For example, the number of longer term rental properties in central Dublin coming to market increased by 71%as landlords have moved away from short-term rentals through Airbnb.
Comments are closed.