Airbnb to expect more than 300 million guest this year

Despite evolving economic uncertainties, Airbnb is expecting a huge number of guests this year, with a renewed push into renting single rooms.

Despite cost of living pressures, Airbnb is confident people are still keen to travel, as it introduces ways to make it easier and more affordable.

Despite rising costs of living, Airbnb is optimistic about consumers’ desire to travel with the company expecting more than 300 million guests this year.

Last year, as travellers searched for more affordable accommodation options, nights stayed in private room listings in Australia grew by approximately 50 per cent, according to the short-term rental company.

Figures released by Airbnb revealed private room hosts in Australia earned a total of $92.3 million while the typical private room host earned more than $4160.

Susan Wheeldon, country manager for Australia at Airbnb, told news.com.au that despite evolving economic uncertainties, the brand is optimistic about consumers’ desire to travel.

“More people are travelling on Airbnb – globally, we’ve now had 1.4 billion cumulative guest arrivals,” she said.

Despite evolving economic uncertainties, Airbnb is optimistic about consumers’ desire to travel with more than 300 million guests expected this year. Picture: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP

“We’re seeing guests travelling across a wider distribution of dates and destinations and guests now have a new-found flexibility that they didn’t previously have.”

While Aussies are keeping a tight grip on their wallets, Ms Wheeldon said there continues to be a huge appetite to travel, mostly driven by the desire for connection.

“From an Airbnb global survey, over 60 per cent of guests said they felt travelling on Airbnb provided a closer connection to the local culture than staying in a hotel or resort,” she told news.com.au.

“More than 14 million guests have returned to the same host for another stay since Airbnb began.”

Airbnb will introduce more than 50 new features and upgrades including ‘more affordable monthly stays’.

For guests in Australia, the most booked categories are beach, amazing pools, surfing, national parks and tropical.

“Rooms remain one of our most popular types of stay for guests as the third most booked category globally since we launched Airbnb Categories last May,” Ms Wheeldon said. “Solo travellers and Millennials are most likely to book a private room.”

She said in the current economic environment, people want travel affordability and private rooms are an affordable option.

There will also be new tools to help hosts set competitive prices.

“The average rate of a private room in Australia is $104 per night,” she said.

She lifting of pandemic travel restrictions, this year they’re expecting over 300 million guest arrivals on Airbnb.

“To prepare, we’re making the most extensive set of improvements across nearly every aspect of the Airbnb experience – and we’re doing it based on direct feedback from our community.”

As of Thursday, Airbnb announced 50 new features and upgrades starting with the introduction of Airbnb Rooms.

“Airbnb Rooms is an all-new take on the original Airbnb. Airbnb Rooms are more affordable for guests and allow them to meet someone new and experience the city like a local,” she said.

Guests can rent a room in the same house or apartment as their host at roughly $100 a night.

While Airbnb always listed single rooms in houses and apartments, the company said the new offering will give more biographical information about hosts, and consumers can sort listings to learn details including whether their bedroom door locks and the bathroom is private or shared.

Airbnb Rooms is an all-new take on the original Airbnb.

“We’ve heard from guests that they want to know more about who they’re staying with, which is why we’ve introduced Host Passports, a fun way for hosts to share additional details about themselves, including what they do for work, fun facts about themselves and much more,” Ms Wheeldon said.

“We’ve taken a design-driven approach to improving our service, storyboarding the whole guest and host journey, alongside analysing thousands of pieces of feedback from our community.”

As part of the new features and upgrades, Airbnb is also launching 25 improvements for hosts, including new pricing tools to help set competitive prices.