Airbnb Revenue and Booking Statistics (2023)
Written by Brian Dean
Airbnb is a popular booking service for short stay rentals that has seen more than 800 million guest arrivals to date.
Founded in 2007, Airbnb has grown a community of over 4 million hosts across 100,000 cities worldwide.
Today, more than 193.2 million “nights and experiences” are booked on Airbnb annually.
Continue reading to find the latest stats on Airbnb for 2023:
- Key Airbnb Stats
- “Nights and experiences” booked on Airbnb
- Airbnb gross booking value
- Airbnb revenue
- Airbnb expenses by category
- Airbnb ‘nights and experiences booked’ by region
- Airbnb gross booking value by region
- Airbnb revenue by region
- Airbnb gross booking value per night and experience booked
- Average nights per Airbnb booking
- Airbnb employees
Key Airbnb Stats
- 193.2 million “nights and experiences” were booked on Airbnb in 2020.
- Airbnb generated $23.9 billion from gross bookings in 2020. And $10.3 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
- The international booking service accumulated $3.38 billion in revenue in 2020. While the company’s revenue in Q1 2021 amounted to $886.94 million.
- Listings in North America accounted for 52.94% of Airbnb’s total revenue in 2020.
- Airbnb currently has 5,597 employees.
“Nights and experiences” booked on Airbnb
Airbnb defines “nights and experiences booked” as a key metric that measures nights and the number of seats for experiences booked on the platform in a given period.
193.2 million “nights and experiences” were booked in 2020. That’s a 40.9% decrease with 326.9 million “nights and experiences” in 2019.
Below is a table with a number of “nights and experiences” booked on Airbnb since 2015:
| Year | Nights and experiences booked |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 72.4 million |
| 2016 | 125.7 million |
| 2017 | 185.8 million |
| 2018 | 250.3 million |
| 2019 | 326.9 million |
| 2020 | 193.2 million |
| Q1 2021 | 64.4 million |
Source: Airbnb.
Airbnb gross booking value
Gross booking value is defined as the total amount of payments (including host payments, service, and cleaning fees, but excluding cancellations) processed on the platform.
Airbnb processed $23.9 billion in gross booking value in 2020 – a 37.04% decrease from the previous year.
The booking platform accrued $10.3 billion in gross booking value in the first quarter of 2021, accounting for 43.1% of the total gross booking value in 2020.
We’ve charted Airbnb gross booking value since 2015:
| Year | Gross booking value |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $8.06 billion |
| 2016 | $13.92 billion |
| 2017 | $20.97 billion |
| 2018 | $29.44 billion |
| 2019 | $37.96 billion |
| 2020 | $23.9 billion |
| Q1 2021 | $10.3 billion |
Source: Airbnb.
Airbnb revenue
Airbnb brought in $886.94 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2021.
Airbnb generated $3.38 billion in revenue in 2020 – a decrease of 25.58% over the past year.
Airbnb achieved a 29.75% 5-year revenue CAGR.
Here’s a table with Airbnb revenue since 2015:
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $919.04 million |
| 2016 | $1.65 billion |
| 2017 | $2.56 billion |
| 2018 | $3.65 billion |
| 2019 | $4.8 billion |
| 2020 | $3.38 billion |
| Q1 2021 | $886.94 million |
Source: Airbnb.
Airbnb expenses by category
Airbnb expenses (including restructuring charges) totaled $6.02 billion. That’s an increase of 46.47% over the past year.
Operations and support expenses for Airbnb reached $877.9 million in 2020, representing 14.58% of total expenses – a 7.7% increase over the past year.
This table shows Airbnb operations and support expenses since 2015:
| Year | Operations and support expenses |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $181.28 million |
| 2016 | $270.29 million |
| 2017 | $395.74 million |
| 2018 | $609.2 million |
| 2019 | $815.07 million |
| 2020 | $877.9 million |
| Q1 2021 | $185.44 million |
Airbnb product development expenses reached $2.75 billion in 2020, an increase of 2.81x over the past 12 months.
The following table shows Airbnb product development expenses over the past six years:
| Year | Product development expenses |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $99.68 million |
| 2016 | $228.06 million |
| 2017 | $400.75 million |
| 2018 | $579.19 million |
| 2019 | $976.69 million |
| 2020 | $2.75 billion |
Airbnb spent $1.17 billion on sales and marketing in 2020. This represented a 27.78% decrease over the past year.
We’ve charted Airbnb spending on sales and marketing since 2015:
| Year | Sales and marketing expenses |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $397.24 million |
| 2016 | $663.06 million |
| 2017 | $871.75 million |
| 2018 | $1.1 billion |
| 2019 | $1.62 billion |
| 2020 | $1.17 billion |
General and administrative expenses for Airbnb reached $1.13 billion – a 1.62x rise over last year.
This is Airbnb’s general and administrative expenses since 2015:
| Year | General and administrative expenses |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $138.13 million |
| 2016 | $214.41 million |
| 2017 | $327.16 million |
| 2018 | $479.49 million |
| 2019 | $697.18 million |
| 2020 | $1.13 billion |
Airbnb restructuring charges amounted to $151.35 million in 2020.
Source: Airbnb.
Airbnb “nights and experiences” booked by region
39.08% (75.5 million) of “nights and experiences” booked on Airbnb were for North American listings. Another 35.04% (67.7 million) share of “nights and experiences” booked are from European, Middle Eastern, and African (EMEA) listings.
Here’s a breakdown of booked “nights and experiences” by region:
| Region | Nights and experiences booked (Share) |
|---|---|
| Europe, Middle East, and Africa | 67.7 million (35.04%) |
| North America | 75.5 million (39.08%) |
| Asia Pacific | 27.6 million (14.28%) |
| Latin America | 22.4 million (11.59%) |
Airbnb’s proportion of North American bookings has increased from 29.3% in pre-pandemic 2019 to 39.08% in 2020. Conversely, the EMEA region showed a decline from 42.52% to 35.04%.
The following is a breakdown of “nights and experiences” booked by region in 2019:
| Region | Nights and experiences booked (Share) |
|---|---|
| Europe, Middle East, and Africa | 139 million (42.52%) |
| North America | 95.8 million (29.3%) |
| Asia Pacific | 58.2 million (17.8%) |
| Latin America | 33.9 million (10.37%) |
Source: Airbnb.
Airbnb gross booking value by region
Listings in North America accounted for more than half (55.23%, $13.2 billion) of Airbnb’s total gross booking value in 2020.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of Airbnb gross booking value by region in 2020:
| Region | Gross booking value (Share) |
|---|---|
| Europe, Middle East, and Africa | $6.6 billion (27.61%) |
| North America | $13.2 billion (55.23%) |
| Asia Pacific | $2.4 billion (10.04%) |
| Latin America | $1.7 billion (7.11%) |
Source: Airbnb.
Airbnb revenue by region
Revenue from Airbnb listings in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and North America brought in $2.8 billion (82.35% of total) in revenue in 2020.
This is a breakdown of Airbnb revenue by region:
| Region | Revenue (Share) |
|---|---|
| Europe, Middle East, and Africa | $1 billion (29.41%) |
| North America | $1.8 billion (52.94%) |
| Asia Pacific | $0.3 billion (8.82%) |
| Latin America | $0.3 billion (8.82%) |
Source: Airbnb.
Airbnb gross booking value per night and experience booked
Airbnb earned $123.69 in gross booking value per “night and experience” booked in 2020. That’s a 6.5% increase over the past year.
Gross booking value per “night and experience” booked varies by region with the highest amount ($174.43) in North America and lowest ($75.74) in Latin America in 2020.
Here’s a breakdown of Airbnb gross booking value per “night and experience” booked by region in 2020:
| Region | Gross booking value per night and experience |
|---|---|
| Europe, Middle East, and Africa | $98.41 |
| North America | $174.43 |
| Asia Pacific | $85.83 |
| Latin America | $75.74 |
Source: Airbnb.
Average nights per Airbnb booking
Worldwide, Airbnb bookings averaged 4.1 nights per stay in 2020. That’s an increase from a global average of only 3.5 nights in 2019.
Average nights per Airbnb booking by region:
| Region | Average nights per booking |
|---|---|
| Europe, Middle East, and Africa | 4.4 nights |
| North America | 4.4 nights |
| Asia Pacific | 4.4 nights |
| Latin America | 2.8 nights |
Source: Airbnb.
Airbnb employees
Airbnb has 5,597 employees located across 27 cities worldwide following a decline from 7,500 in May 2020 due to pandemic-related lay-offs.
The average reported salary for Airbnb employees on an H1-B visa in the US is $196,760 in 2021.
Source: Airbnb, H1B Salary Database.
Conclusion
That’s all for my list of Airbnb stats in 2023.
It’s clear that Airbnb’s business has been severely impacted by the pandemic, pausing the company’s consistent year-over-year revenue growth.
Yet, the business retains several competitive advantages over hotel chains thanks to varied booking options and its presence in more locations. It will be interesting to follow the recovery journey of Airbnb.
Now I’m curious to hear from you:
Do you think Airbnb will recover quickly or do you think their competitors in the travel industry will fare better?
I’d also love to read any comments or questions regarding this stats page that you have.