In less than 20 years, Airbnb has now grown to encompass millions of listings around the world, generating billions in revenue.
Airbnb now has more listings than Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, and others. Overall, they've surpassed 4 million listings, compared to Marriott which used to be at the top with under 2 million.
This year, the company hit a record number of stays and overall now they have got more "hotel rooms" than the top 5 hotel chains in the world combined.
For 2019, the top 20 Airbnb destinations were found in New Zealand, China, Mexico, France, the United States, Argentina, Ghana, Mozambique, Scotland, Brazil, Japan, Georgia, Brazil, Canada, India, Uzbekistan, Italy, Spain, and Taiwan.
Caribbean
In some regions, such as Jamaica, Airbnb listings have skyrocketed.
For example, listings in Jamaica have grown from 6,500 to more than 9,000 over the last year. And thanks to those listings they have brought in tens of thousands of visitors to the island and the region.
Just a few years ago, Cuba had been desginated as the fastest growing Airbnb market at the time, with thousands of Cuban homes being listed through the platform. But stays through Airbnb have been growing significantly in Jamaica and other regions too.
There are thousands of places in Jamaica to be found, and the platform has helped hosts on the island to earn an average of US $2,600 per year. Not only is it helping to bring many to the region, but when Jamaicans travel they too are overwhelmingly deciding to choose Airbnb to stay with.
Back in 2016, Jamaican tourism officials had signed an agreement with Airbnb to promote tourism to the island. As well, people in the region were also encouraged to become hosts and welcome visitors.
In 2018, St. Thomas was named the top Caribbean destination for Airbnb stays, with Puerto Rico being named 2nd with at least a 400 percent increase in bookings to the area.
Though it might be growing all over the world and today encompass the most hotel listings, the journey hasn't been without its problems. But even though there might be unique risks associated with this travel stay option, millions of people are still choosing this route for themselves worldwide.
Still, there are lawmakers in various regions that are pushing to get Airbnb out of the market. A number of properties and owners are also said to be violating various rules by not complying with certain regulations in having their properties listed. The company has been working with officials to help their investigations in certain circumstances, in obtaining information about listings in certain regions.
Airbnb still admits that it needs to address a variety of safety issues, such as the recent announcement of the house party ban. There are still millions of stays happening on any one given night in Airbnb venues all over the world.
In 2020 it is expected that Airbnb will finally become a publicly traded company, and for now there isn't any strong rival competition to Airbnb in the market, other than the well-known hotel chains out there etc, though some new ideas are being tried.
Pics:
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