By Doyinsola Oladipo
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Vacation rental company Airbnb sees a huge opportunity to grow its long-term rental business as short-term rentals come under increasing scrutiny in tourist hotspots such as Athens and Barcelona.
The company is focused on growing its long-term rental business — meaning stays of 28 days or more — CEO Brian Chesky told attendees at a travel conference Wednesday night. Local governments around the world have clamped down on short-term rentals in an attempt to increase the supply of housing for full-time residents.
“The 30- to 90-day stays, the monthly stays, the seasonal stays, I think are a huge opportunity for growth,” Chesky said. Long-term rental bookings have grown in recent years, he added, and now account for 17% to 18% of the company’s business, compared with 13% or 14% before the pandemic.
The company is focused in part on expanding its long-term rentals and experiences businesses, while also offering new services, such as matching people who have homes and don’t have time to host on Airbnb with those who want to host but don’t have properties to list on the site.
Chesky told the audience that the company also sees sponsored housing listings as a billion-dollar revenue opportunity, highlighting what it has seen in the business models of Uber (NYSE:) and its competitor Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:).
Greece and Spain are among the latest countries to tighten regulations on holiday rentals in a bid to tackle housing shortages.
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