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Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

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Re: Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

#31

Post by ukabwlsbeux »

chadmeister wrote: post #4

It's kind of frightening to think of the broader economic impact it would have on the whole real estate market if Airbnb went belly up. Aren't there a ton of cases where people are mortgaging multiple homes and paying them off with the revenue they generate? That cash just dried up over night and there doesn't appear to be any incoming federal support. Edit: Look, I'm all for affordable housing, but when viewing this…

I don’t think that’s frightening at all. A bunch of rent seekers lose everything, and everyone else wins. This practice should be, and in some places is, illegal.

Re: Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

#32

Post by tibbydudeza »

thrownaway954 wrote: post #24
animalnewbie wrote: post #10

Absolutely nobody find I surprising that China claims no new cases? I'm beginning to wonder if they're lying... (For Chinese two cent army, look up tiananmen square)

i am still speculating that they manufactured the virus as a way to curb their elderly population. lots of people i come in contact with are saying the same thing. its a little too coincidental that this virus is dangerous to mostly the elderly.

Some virology experts already said mother nature is way better at this type of thing than we could ever be.

Re: Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

#34

Post by Traster »

tibbydudeza wrote: post #27

Is WeWork still worth something ... guess co-working is a bum idea right now.

Isn't it hilarious looking back, people were making the argument "In the next recesion co-working spaces are going to explode as a great way of managing costs". Turns out... maybe not this recession.

Re: Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

#36

Post by yesplorer »

CydeWeys wrote: post #25
yesplorer wrote: post #19

Why should Airbnb be making losses at this point? Are they refunding booking fees to customers while paying hosts? Traditional hotels lose money because of huge amount of, costs (both fixed and variable) associated with running a hotel. shouldn't Airbnb be making so much money at this point? Edit: "...at this point?" not in reference to the current pandemic, rather at this point of how far Airbnb has come and how the…

Why would they be making lots of money when their business is tanking? Their reservations have more than halved, so that's a huge drop in revenue without much if a drop in costs (unless they fire half their workforce and walk away from half of their office leases).

I don't mean making money during this very pandemic. Rather, making money overall.

What are they doing besides providing intermediary service all around (most of) the world throughh their website.

I presumed they would be profitable by now, just as Facebook was profitable before IPO. Not saying they should be as profitable as Facebook but they should be profitable from taking a cut off every booking.

Re: Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

#37

Post by Ar-Curunir »

chadmeister wrote: post #4

It's kind of frightening to think of the broader economic impact it would have on the whole real estate market if Airbnb went belly up. Aren't there a ton of cases where people are mortgaging multiple homes and paying them off with the revenue they generate? That cash just dried up over night and there doesn't appear to be any incoming federal support. Edit: Look, I'm all for affordable housing, but when viewing this…

It’s entirely their fault; no-one asked them to make being a landlord their primary source of revenue.

Re: Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

#38

Post by user5994461 »

CydeWeys wrote: post #25
yesplorer wrote: post #19

Why should Airbnb be making losses at this point? Are they refunding booking fees to customers while paying hosts? Traditional hotels lose money because of huge amount of, costs (both fixed and variable) associated with running a hotel. shouldn't Airbnb be making so much money at this point? Edit: "...at this point?" not in reference to the current pandemic, rather at this point of how far Airbnb has come and how the…

Why would they be making lots of money when their business is tanking? Their reservations have more than halved, so that's a huge drop in revenue without much if a drop in costs (unless they fire half their workforce and walk away from half of their office leases).

They should not be tanking. Airbnb is in a highly profitable business with very high operating margin.

For reference, they take 20 to 30% commission on each booking, whereas the fixed costs to run a website are ridiculously low. Even with half the bookings, it's still a cash cow.

Re: Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

#39

Post by zwieback »

We recently bought a small condo in Portland for our weekend use and as we were shopping around it seemed like the whole Airbnb-triggered rental market was already hopelessly overheated. With the capacity that's there I can't imagine occupancy rates averaged over the year being worth it for the condo owners. I'm guessing there will be a glut of condos available after the virus, many of them in foreclosure.

Re: Airbnb Racks Up Hundreds of Millions in Losses Due to Coronavirus

#40

Post by usaar333 »

chadmeister wrote: post #4

It's kind of frightening to think of the broader economic impact it would have on the whole real estate market if Airbnb went belly up. Aren't there a ton of cases where people are mortgaging multiple homes and paying them off with the revenue they generate? That cash just dried up over night and there doesn't appear to be any incoming federal support. Edit: Look, I'm all for affordable housing, but when viewing this…

Travel certainly will be hurt. All said, my guess is the hardest hit travel industry will be cruises, followed by resorts, followed by business travel (we've all learned to work remotely better). Vacation rentals will take a hit but will also absorb some of the loss of demand to cruises/resorts.

Consequently, my guess is AirBnB owners aren't hit too long in the medium term (1 year out). Not too much demand hit in rural areas -- and in urban areas they can switch to long-term rentals.

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