San Francisco (TAN): California-based home-sharing platform Airbnb has recently welcomed its 500 millionth guest.
Since its foundation in 2008, the accommodation marketplace has hosted half a billion guests at six million listings across the globe, of which 14,000 are tiny houses, 4,000 are castles, and over 2,400 are tree houses. The company claims it has “more listings than the six largest hotel groups have rooms, combined”.
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Airbnb, currently present in 81,000 cities in 191 countries, has recorded one million guest arrivals in over 75 cities.
Adding to the milestone, Airbnb hosts worldwide earned USD 65 billion from renting out lodging since the company’s inception, with female hosts earning approximately USD 20 billion in 2017 and 2018 alone.
While over one million hosts are above the age of 50, and over 400,000 over 60, seniors above age 60 accounted for the “fastest-growing demographic of hosts in the US”.
Almost 70 per cent of the bookings in the last three years were made by guests under the age of 40, with millennials globally spending over USD one billion on Airbnb reservations.
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The home-sharing major has expanded its business with Airbnb Experiences, that lets guests book tours and activities. Airbnb said the Experiences unit now has 25,000 things to do in 1,000 cities.
Airbnb works very well for me.