Airbnb reported revenues of $1.34 billion, topping the $1.26 billion forecasted, up almost 300% year-over-year. The company reported 83.1 million nights and experiences booked, marking a 29% increase from Q1 and a 197% increase year-over-year.
Sales and marketing expenses for the second quarter were up 175% compared to last year’s figures, reaching $315 million. According to Airbnb, the rise was due to “Made Possible by Hosts” campaign.
Gross booking value, the company’s way of tracking host earnings, service fees, cleaning fees and taxes, was up 320% to $13.4 billion, single-handedly beating the $11.56 billion consensus.
For the future, Airbnb warned about the volatility caused by the COVID-19 Delta variant. Although it expects Q3 to deliver the strongest quarterly revenue on record, the third quarter nights and experiences booked could be below what it reported in Q2 and Q3 2019.
Dave Stephenson, Airbnb CFO, stated: “As we exit Q2 and come into Q3, we have a combination of fewer bookings for the fall, just given the nature of some of the seasonality, and any kind of impact potentially on Covid concerns.”
Since the last earnings report on May 13, Airbnb stock price has risen 9.1%.
Sources: cnbc.com, thestreet.com