Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announces new upgrades with a focus on flexibility, anticipates 'huge' travel rebound
'There's a major travel redistribution, which I think is good for tourism and economies around the country,' Chesky says
Brian Chesky explains how the travel industry has changed since 2019 on 'The Claman Countdown'
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky joined "The Claman Countdown" Tuesday to break down the recovery of the travel industry and announce over 100 new upgrades the home rental giant is adding across its platform to get business rolling again.
Chesky told host Liz Claman that family travel is back to 2019 levels, and with vaccination rates rising and borders reopening he anticipates a travel rebound unlike anything he’s seen before.
"The world is never going back to the way it was before the pandemic. Travel is back, but it’s different than before," Chesky said.
As people have been grounded for more than a year due to the pandemic, Chesky named three trends he believes will lead to a big comeback in 2021.
"One. When people are traveling they're more flexible about when they go," he said. "More people work from home, which means they can work anywhere."
"Two. It used to be people were going to a few destinations, Las Vegas, New York, Orlando, common destinations. Now people are traveling everywhere. They are getting in planes, but also getting in cars. Going to small towns, rural communities, national parks. There is a major travel redistribution, which I think is good for tourism and economies around the country," he added.
"The third thing that’s changing is people are traveling and staying longer. Almost a quarter of our business is monthly rentals by room nights booked. When people travel they stay longer."
Brian Chesky tells 'The Claman Countdown' why he is projecting a big recovery for the industry
Airbnb recently announced more than 100 new upgrades across its platform with a focus on flexibility ahead of an anticipated boom in travel as the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
"The whole system works on structure data so we’re going to continue to capture more organized information from host and then when you search we’ll be able to match you with that information. That’s basically the vision of where we’re going. We’re trying to make it even easier to use Airbnb. What we ended up doing was we made it really easy to book someone’s home and we made it easy to list your home. The easier we make it the more people will do it so that’s what these changes are. We think there’s a huge travel rebound coming and we want to be ready for it by making travel easier on Airbnb."