Howdy 🤠 This issue of Never Normal is all about Airbnb — the company at the center of the ongoing transformation in work, life, and (especially) travel.
Full Disclosure: I’m a (small) investor.
Airbnb’s New Nomad Policy
CEO Brian Chesky announced on Twitter that Airbnb has adopted a new remote work policy.
We’re already over two years into the mainstream adoption of remote work, but Airbnb’s new policy is notable, because the company now explicitly condones employees working from other countries and they pledge not to adjust compensation based on the employee’s location.
In other words, now you can get a job working for Airbnb, making Silicon Valley money, while hopping between Mexico, Bali, Budapest, and Lisbon (or wherever you want).
Plenty of remote workers are already traveling while working, but this is the first time I’ve seen a company the size and stature of Airbnb make such a flexible policy. I suspect that more tech companies will follow suit.
Spend It Where You Earn It
Of course, Airbnb stands to benefit the most from such policies.
After all, where are all these workers going to sleep if they move out of their homes to travel and live all over the world?
Its already happening.
Airbnb released their latest earnings statement this week. The numbers are up. Big time:
Revenue of $1.5 billion increased by 80% from Q1 2019, and by 70% from Q1 2021—demonstrating the strength of the travel rebound.
The comparison with 2019 is especially interesting, because it shows how the company has grown relative to where they were before the pandemic. The included letter to shareholders explains:
Two years since the pandemic began, a new world of travel has emerged. Millions of people are now more flexible about where they live and work. As a result, they’re spreading out to thousands of towns and cities, staying for weeks, months, or even entire seasons at a time.
Where have you heard this before? 🤔🙃
Perhaps most interesting of all, the shareholder letter also teased “the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade” to be announced on May 11.
But there’s a downside…
As I’ve written about over the past few weeks, it’s become significantly easier and much less of an extreme lifestyle choice to travel and live all over the world these days.
And as more and more well-paid workers become digital nomads, competition and prices for Airbnbs in desirable locations is heating up:
ADR [average daily rate] averaged $168 in Q1 2022, representing a 37% increase compared to the same period in 2019…
As a result, seasoned digital nomads have started talking about Airbnb prices the way Brits talk about the weather. It’s the single biggest threat to our lifestyle. Especially for the many (most) nomads who don’t have a cushy Silicon Valley salary.
The accommodation affordability crisis is most acute in Europe at the moment, thanks to a perfect storm of the summer high season, pent up demand from American travelers, and constraints on vacation rental supply (imposed by local governments whose residents complain they can’t afford to live in their own cities anymore).
All of this has prompted some nomads to abandon Airbnb in favor of alternative platforms and strategies for finding cheaper places to stay.
More on that next week…
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