Airbnb said demand for travel remains strong, despite concerns about homes being hit by the economic slowdown and rising prices.
Around 104 million nights and experiences were booked on the platform from April to June, a record high for the lodging website. Long-term migration remained the fastest growing type of travel, a change driven by the rise of remote work.
But international and city travel, which had lagged, has also recovered. The company said it is in the midst of its strongest summer travel season yet, and assured investors that it is well prepared for anything affecting the economy.
A slowdown may help the company, executives said.
“Airbnb was founded during the recession,” chief executive Brian Chesky said in a conference call with analysts to discuss the company’s results.
In the event of another slowdown, he said, “we think a lot of people may turn to host once again, so this is a big opportunity for us”. Overall, bookings in the April-June period rose 25% from last year to 103.7 million and up 24% from 2019.
Higher prices helped lift the company’s revenue, which surged 58% from last year to $2.1bn. The company said that nearly half of the company’s reservations are for a week or longer.
Travel demand remains strongest in North America, where bookings are up 37% compared to 2019. While travel has recovered from the pandemic, growth in Europe is lagging behind that recovery, hurt by factors such as the weaker pound.
The company announced in May that it was pulling out of China and said demand remained below pre-pandemic levels in the Asia Pacific as Covid restrictions keep Chinese tourists at home.
Despite removing China listings in July, Airbnb still has more than 6 million active listings on the platform.
Mr Chesky said the company had now achieved “growth and profitability at scale” and said the firm would continue to invest in the business and spend $2bn on buying its shares, which have fallen this year.
Executives said the buyback programme showed their confidence in the company’s future. The company reported a profit of $379m, compared to a loss of $68m last year.