According to Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky, despite the fact that travel has picked back up since the beginning on the pandemic, he believes that business travel will never return to the way it was pre-pandemic. He spoke with
CNN’s Poppy Harlow and shared his thoughts.
Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s CEO
Chesky says: “It doesn’t mean business travel is dead, just business travel as we knew it isn’t coming back the way it was. The reason why is the bar is higher to get on a plane to do a meeting.”
He points out that in the past year where people have been grounded, companies have realized just how possible a lot of this work can be done remotely.
Chesky continued:”I think that people now have what they didn’t have a year or two ago. Many people now have flexibility. They have flexibility where they travel and live and work — and they’re starting to combine all those. I think once people have something, they don’t want to let go of it.”
Chesky Says Business Travel Will Never Be The Same
Airbnb’s platform serves 220 countries when it comes to finding and booking accommodations. Of course, the company was impacted severely during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has recently seen an increase in travel now that there are vaccines available.
Airbnb believes that the future of travel lies in flexibility. The company recently announced that is has made over 100 changes and upgrades to its service in order to cater to guests and hosts. This includes a simplified onboarding process for new listings and new ways to search for listings.
Airbnb has shared that people are more open minded and flexible about when and where they want to travel. This also includes options for staying longer at certain locations. Chesky shared that about a quarter of all bookings in Q1 of 2021 were for long-term stays of about 28 days or more.
The Company Says Long Term Travel Is The New Normal
