Live data from Hacker News

Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

news.airbnb.com

51–60 of 118 posts

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#51
post #6

Just to preempt most of the usual snarky comments -- What's confidential is the contents of the filing, not the fact. All the initial S-1 filings I'm aware of are confidential. After amendments (S-1A filings), the resulting document can be made public. At this time, any details of offering are still volatile, and there's no reason to force companies to publish that information until the final offering details are sol…

Confidential S-1's are reasonably new (2012) and limited to "emerging growth" companies. But yeah, I imagine most S-1s discussed on HN take advantage of that provision.

EDIT: ohh, that changed in 2017. Now all companies can file confidentially.

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#52

I'm upset, after using the platform for a decade, that they remove negative reviews of properties. I learned this recently. That included some of my very tame and reasonable reviews. Makes me want to short the stock when it IPOs, after its initial run-up out of vengeance.

Another dark pattern is hiding the price until you are nearly booking the place. Most people want a cheap stay close to where they need to be, so they look on the prices on the map, which fail to include fees which can be all over the place depending on the host.

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#54
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another big factor in Airbnb, like other "platforms" like this vs their traditional counterparts, they have no assets that incurr costs no matter how down the market it Hilton, Marriott, etc all still have MASSIVE amounts of physical property that they have to maintain year around no matter if they are full or empty. Airbnb has none of those costs. This makes them more flexible and are able to quickly respond to chan…

Marriott doesn't own their hotels, they lease them from third party owners. I would wager that Hilton is doing the same.

I dont know about the Marriott family of brands specifically but I would image like most large companies in this sector they have a Mix of Franchisees and Direct owned properties.

Hilton Certainly does under several of its brands.

This Franchise model does not change my statement really at all, as it is far different model than what airbnb has

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#55
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another big factor in Airbnb, like other "platforms" like this vs their traditional counterparts, they have no assets that incurr costs no matter how down the market it Hilton, Marriott, etc all still have MASSIVE amounts of physical property that they have to maintain year around no matter if they are full or empty. Airbnb has none of those costs. This makes them more flexible and are able to quickly respond to chan…

Marriott doesn't own their hotels, they lease them from third party owners. I would wager that Hilton is doing the same.

Do they lease them? I got the impression that it’s closer to a franchise model (for all major chains)

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#56

I heard that Airbnb's business is actually stronger in US and Europe now than pre-pandemic, as tourism shifts towards local and people shy away from hotels. On the other hand, they're still in money saving mode, reducing ad spending and laying people off. Anyone know what is going on?

they are benefiting from rise of the "local summer getaway" but that's only one season of the year. what happens in the fall and winter? and to business travel?

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#57

I heard that Airbnb's business is actually stronger in US and Europe now than pre-pandemic, as tourism shifts towards local and people shy away from hotels. On the other hand, they're still in money saving mode, reducing ad spending and laying people off. Anyone know what is going on?

Local tourism is fine but international is not. Airline travel is not fully functional yet.

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#58

I heard that Airbnb's business is actually stronger in US and Europe now than pre-pandemic, as tourism shifts towards local and people shy away from hotels. On the other hand, they're still in money saving mode, reducing ad spending and laying people off. Anyone know what is going on?

The timing is certainly interesting... Presuming Airbnb makes it through the crisis, they're set up for many quarters of blistering earnings "growth" as things return to normal.

I think their assumption is that investors will jump on the stock when pandemic ends and optimism surges.

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#59
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another big factor in Airbnb, like other "platforms" like this vs their traditional counterparts, they have no assets that incurr costs no matter how down the market it Hilton, Marriott, etc all still have MASSIVE amounts of physical property that they have to maintain year around no matter if they are full or empty. Airbnb has none of those costs. This makes them more flexible and are able to quickly respond to chan…

Marriott doesn't own their hotels, they lease them from third party owners. I would wager that Hilton is doing the same.

Does leasing change the fact that you still need to maintain the property and pay the lease?

Re: Airbnb announces confidential submission of draft Registration Statement

#60
I'm very curious to see what their public valuation will be, but at the same time the market seems to be doin its own thing, so perhaps's it'll do great.

But all things considered, it's pretty clear that everything is too volatile right now, but AirBnB is being pressured to IPO anyway. If the market doesn't have an appetite for travel, I foresee a lot of recent AirBnB hires taking a huge haircut on their total comp.

Post reply on HN