Airbnb is currently in the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios.
Ever stayed at an Airbnb? This famous disruptor would grow to shake up the hospitality industry after launching in 2008. Before then, staying in a hotel or with an acquaintance was most people’s only option when travelling to a new location.
Now? They can stay in a spaceship
Airbnb is currently in the Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios. So if you invest in either of those portfolios, you have an indirect exposure to the company. Here are some things you might not know about it.
1. “Brian — thought of a way to make a few bucks”
In 2007 Joe Gebbia emailed his roommate Brian Chesky with an idea. They lived in San Francisco and a design conference had contributed to an accommodation shortage in the city.
Joe had previously let a stranger stay in his apartment when he lived in New York City and it had turned out fine, so, why not try that again?
Brian was into it, and they built a website. Three designers paid $20 each to sleep on air mattresses in their apartment, and Airbnb was born.
2. They had to solve for ‘stranger-danger bias’
Airbnb had to design for trust. It’s a pretty big ask to ask people to open their homes to strangers, particularly for women and minorities.
Here’s Joe Gebbia talking about designing for trust and to eliminate the ‘stranger-danger bias’. This is a term he coined to describe the way that people who are similar to us feel less like strangers than people who are different to us who put us on alert.
https://airbnb.design/how-airbnb-designs-for-trust/
“What we didn’t realise was how many people were ready and waiting to put the bias aside,” he said.
3. Airbnb IPO’ed at the height of the pandemic
On the first day of trading – 10 December 2020 – their stock price rocketed 112%.
During the pandemic, the company pivoted to offering online experiences to help some of the booking shortfall. Now, you can book online tarot, magic classes, and city tours through the platform.
As part of their IPO, the company set aside money to invest in the future of their hosts.
As at 31 March 2022, Airbnb has over 4 million hosts on its platform.
4. Airbnb launched a $10 million OMG! fund
People from around the world competed for $100,000 grants paid for by the fund. The winners were those people who had the best ideas for experiential accommodation, based on originality, feasiblity, experience and sustainibility, as chosen by a panel of design experts.
One of the Aussie winners designed an eco bubble that lets you see the stars from the top of a mountain.
5. Airbnb just had their biggest and most profitable quarter ever
This is even despite (gestures broadly at everything) everything going on. Their Q3 2022 results highlighted their plan to unlock the next generation of Hosts.
So why is Airbnb in our Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios?
We asked our investment team. They said:
"Airbnb is the alternative accommodation (non-hotel) travel brand. Airbnb’s brand has significant consumer category mindshare. When Airbnb suspended marketing during Covid-19 they found site traffic did not suffer. The Airbnb brand was front of mind for travellers, with 90% of traffic still direct or unpaid.
Airbnb is benefitting from increased cross border travel trends but also from increased work flexibility (non-urban travel). Airbnb’s network is global and local, feeding a virtuous cycle. This past quarter approximately 35% of new hosts started as guests. As users increase, guests can become hosts increasing supply.
While there are some concerns of Airbnb crowding out housing, 90% of hosts are individuals, typically displaying rooms in their primary home or a secondary property. We believe home sharing supports more sustainable travel using existing space (homes) to welcome guests. The typical host earns around US$9,600 a year, using the extra income to help cover monthly costs.
In our opinion Airbnb has one of the most adaptable travel business models compared to traditional hotels or booking sites. Airbnb is global, cross-border and local; listings range from cheap shared accomodation to treehouses and castles; and it’s popular among business travelers, families and retirees. No matter the travel circumstances Airbnb has the range and destinations to resonate with travellers."
The Spaceship Universe and Spaceship Earth portfolios invest in Airbnb at the time of writing.
Important! We’re sharing with you our thoughts on the companies in which Spaceship Voyager invests for your informational purposes only. We think it’s important (and interesting!) to let you know what’s happening with Spaceship Voyager’s investments. However, we are not making recommendations to buy or sell holdings in a specific company. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator or guarantee of future performance.
