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Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

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Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#141

Post by smokey_the_bear »

fwn wrote: post #96
smokey_the_bear wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stayed in an AirBnB in Houston in the summer with broken AC. I left before the first night and was not refunded a cent. My review is buried on the page. It wasn't on top when I wrote it, and the stars weren't displayed, just the text. I deleted my AirBnB account.

> I deleted my AirBnB account. How? I'm trying to delete my Airbnb account since months (as part of my regular declouding routine). First, to my surprise, it was only 'deactivated', despite a wording that suggested otherwise, as far as I remember. Then I followed a tutorial on the Internet that said that I need to contact support through a somewhat hidden web form to actually delete my account. .. but to access this…

I did only deactivate my account. I followed up on Twitter, and on a support thread and requested my account be fully deleted, and they didn't get back to me on either request.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#142

Post by geronb »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #124
geronb wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an employee and Airbnb is actually doing very well right now. People have been taking a lot of trips to less dense areas as nearby getaways. https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/business/6074/cali... Same for VRBO, which is also doing very well.

That must be the reason why they fired 25% of their workforce.

Layoffs happened when bookings tanked when the pandemic began (February and March). The recovery happened in the later stage of the pandemic, in May and later. Nobody expected this internally or externally and it's alright if you are skeptical. The official numbers will be made public pretty soon anyway.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#143

Post by geronb »

adventured wrote: post #40
geronb wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airbnb is actually doing very well right now, and is essentially fully recovered if not growing, same as the competitors like VRBO. There's been a huge surge in nearby getaway trips. https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/business/6074/cali...

Given you've posted that twice to this thread now, can you prove what you're saying better than posting a link that doesn't actually support what you're claiming? It's doing very well - versus what? It's profitable? It's not bleeding huge amounts of cash? Its sales are higher than this time last year? Please provide some potent information to defend the premise. Airbnb had to fire 1/4 of its staff. It's doing very we…

I'm not sure why people are downvoting the comment. The link I included indicates there were 1 million bookings in a single day, signaling recovery.

A quick Google search shows multiple articles with more data points as well:

- Similarweb traffic: VRBO traffic is above February traffic levels https://www.similarweb.com/website/vrbo.com/

- Airbnb traffic shows a V shaped recovery https://www.similarweb.com/website/airbnb.com/#overview

- VRBO drives Expedia group recovery https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2020/07/07/expedia-g...

- Airbnb shows unexpected growth https://fortune.com/2020/06/30/airbnbceo-brian-chesky-bookin...

- May article showing early signs of V-shaped recovery https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/airbnb-booking-data...

- "Airbnb saw more nights booked for U.S. listings between May 17 and June 3 than the same period in 2019, and a similar boost in domestic travel globally." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-12/airbnb-re...

Regarding layoffs:

Business tanked right after COVID began, and people were laid off because of that, but business recovered unexpectedly in the summer.

Whether this is a temporary recovery:

This is anyone's guess, and it may very well be temporary, but take a look at Airbnbs and VRBOs in less dense getaway destinations near urban centers. You will find a lot of them are fully booked through September and October.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#144

Post by geronb »

blobbers wrote: post #91

Why does Airbnb have no competitors? The site itself is not a huge value add. Their search is not fantastic. Uber has Lyft, Airbnb has ... vrbo??? no major competitors?

VRBO/HomeAway, Booking, Tripadvisor are all competitors. There are also a lot of smaller upstarts focusing on specific segments like Blueground (work trips), Lyric (upscale city accommodations), Plumguide (vetted listings).

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#145

Post by geronb »

canada_dry wrote: post #55
geronb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Airbnb has fully recovered, same as VRBO (which is growing about 60% YoY) and having proven that the business has been resilient even during the pandemic can be a good story for the IPO. https://www.financial-world.org/news/news/business/6074/cali...

> Airbnb has fully recovered That just makes no sense given record unemployment and virus still very much prevalent! Travel and tourism are still significantly below average across the globe. Re: VRBO... this quote "One of Airbnb's biggest competitors is Vrbo, owned by Expedia Group. The company doesn't break out Vrbo's individual results, but noted it returned to bookings growth in June." I believe is plainly mislea…

The recovery is very surprising and counterintuitive so you are right to be skeptical.

Here's some additional datapoints:

- Similarweb traffic: VRBO traffic is above February traffic levels https://www.similarweb.com/website/vrbo.com/

- Airbnb traffic shows a V shaped recovery https://www.similarweb.com/website/airbnb.com/#overview

- VRBO drives Expedia group recovery https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2020/07/07/expedia-g...

- Airbnb shows unexpected growth https://fortune.com/2020/06/30/airbnbceo-brian-chesky-bookin...

- May article showing early signs of V-shaped recovery https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/airbnb-booking-data...

- "Airbnb saw more nights booked for U.S. listings between May 17 and June 3 than the same period in 2019, and a similar boost in domestic travel globally." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-12/airbnb-re...

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#146

Post by geronb »

blobbers wrote: post #136
toto444 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you expand on what's wrong with their search ?

There's nothing in particular "wrong" with it but it has missing features with tradeoffs. Try searching for certain amenities that you might need when traveling with younger kids, or trying pinpointing exact locations, and you won't be able to. There are certainly reasons they use regions rather than addresses, that I do not dispute.

What are some amenities you aren't able to search for?

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#147

Post by MattGaiser »

jariel wrote: post #135
MattGaiser wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is just Western democracy at work. City Hall says 'no' and then they get a barrage of letters and emails demanding they don't hurt Uber or Airbnb as people love them. City Council doesn't want to have the deal with the fight, so they capitulate. > If I was mayor and we decided 'no' on Uber I would be fining Uber millions and individual drivers a lot and ask regular cabs and cops to be on the lookout. Are y…

" City Council doesn't want to have the deal with the fight, so they capitulate." That is not what is happening. What is happening is that they don't have the tools, wherewithal or leverage to implement their own policies. They are operationally incapable.

If people hated Uber, they would find the tools and wherewithal pretty quickly.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#148

Post by timwaagh »

romanhn wrote: post #131
timwaagh wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry for your experience. I don't think people really deserve a right to review a place if they cancel immediately so i do agree with airbnb on this. Reviews are always a sad affair. recently had the first guest for a particular room who left a bad review. He was an old squatter so used to much better value for money and it (coincidentically) just happened that he checked out late because of an airbnb mistake so…

While both sides deserve to tell their story, Airbnb should be able to do a basic sanity check based on provided evidence. In our case we provided lots of photos that were clearly were not fraudulent (can be compared to those in the listing) and there was no response from the host, who lied about having cleaners earlier that day. We were met with disgusting sinks, toilets, bathtub, carpet, everything after a 7-hour d…

its not about the kind of place. you should be allowed to review any place. if you stay there. i just dont think a situation where everyone starts to review their competition (and then cancel) is what airbnb wants to see. once again, i'm sorry you had to go through this.

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#149

Post by fibbery »

geronb wrote: post #146
blobbers wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing in particular "wrong" with it but it has missing features with tradeoffs. Try searching for certain amenities that you might need when traveling with younger kids, or trying pinpointing exact locations, and you won't be able to. There are certainly reasons they use regions rather than addresses, that I do not dispute.

What are some amenities you aren't able to search for?

Not the person you replied to, but here's my list of gripes/wishlist for airbnb

- I want to see prices listed as total price, not price before fees which add 30%-50% on top of the listed price

- I want to select properties where there is no one else on the property grounds. Airbnb allows people to claim "Separate property" for somebody's basement suite where you're sure to encounter the host/other residents

- I want the pool/hot tub checkboxes to be limited to private pool or hot tub, and to not include results where the property has some membership to a shared pool in a HOA or whatever

- I want the ability to search for keywords, such as "backyard" or "creek"

- I want to be able to exclude certain hosts from results. In some cities the same host runs multiple properties and they all have bad reviews. I want to hide their properties.

- I want to be able to easily flag or report listings that are abusing the search terms - claiming a living room as a bedroom, for example

- I want to be able to search for properties by driving distance from a location

Re: Airbnb Plans to File Confidentially for IPO in August

#150

Post by sandeeps_ »

naveen99 wrote: post #119
sandeeps_ wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How/where can one purchase Airbnb shares? Is there a minimum amount needed to be purchased?

The minimum varies from $20k to $500k depending on platform and target company. Hard to find and in high demand shares are at the higher end.

Thanks. What platform/website is used to buy shares like this?
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