The changes are being rolled out just days after Airbnb raised $1 billion and laid out plans to direct its attention and new funds toward three core products: hosts, long-term stays and Airbnb experiences. Airbnb raised the $1 billion in debt and equity from private equity firms Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners.

Chesky acknowledged Monday that while the desire to connect and travel 
has been reinforced during this time, the “way it manifests will evolve as the world changes.”

Airbnb is betting how and where people work will evolve; in the company’s view, it’s heading toward longer-term stays. Recent data shared by Airbnb supports that view. In the last two weeks of March, the company saw the number of guests booking longer-term stays within their same cities double. Meanwhile, 80% of Airbnb hosts now accept longer-term stays and half of the company’s active listings now provide discounts for stays of one month or longer.

On Thursday, Airbnb will change its main landing page to highlight longer-term stays. The company introduced a new notification for hosts to educate them on the benefits of longer-term stays, as well as a guide to update their listings to accept these types of bookings. Airbnb has decided to make that a permanent feature in the portal that hosts use to manage their listings.

When the new landing page launches Thursday, Airbnb will have more than 1 million listings that offer monthly stays, according to the company. These homes are equipped with the kinds of amenities required for a longer stay, such as kitchens, laundry facilities and Wi-Fi.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted travel and sparked a need among healthcare and other essential workers to find places to stay in their own cities, has contributed to that growth.

Host playing critical role in

providing longer term local stays. As COVID-19 results in severe travel restrictions, the Airbnb community has shifted to meet new consumer needs for longer term stays within their communities—ranging from seniors needing safe accommodations to shelter in, or families needing the space to support educating kids while working from home.

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Airbnb collected and remitted more than $89.5 million in tax revenue to Florida state and local governments on behalf of its hosts last year, up from $45.7 million in 2020.

Of the taxes remitted, Airbnb delivered $62.5 million in sales tax revenue, up from $33 million in 2019. But for bed taxes, it's a voluntary agreement with each Florida county. The agreements are in place in 40 of the 67 Florida counties, which were remitted a combined $27 million in local bed tax revenue in 2020, up from $12.7 million in 2019. In 2017, Duval County hosts earned a combined $6.1 million serving 42,600 guests.

Collecting and remitting bed taxes can be complicated, which is why Airbnb works with each county individually. In Duval county, city officials are looking into bed tax revenue but do not yet have an agreement in place. In Florida, bed taxes are largely used to fund local tourism efforts.

The tax report comes on the heels of another report from Airbnb that stated Floridian hosts earned a combined combined $810 million in supplemental income in 2018, serving 4.5 million guests. In 2017, Duval County hosts earned a combined $6.1 million serving 42,600 guests. In 2018, hosts earned a combined $11.6 million serving 83,000 guests.

$1 Billion Last Quarter!

Airbnb’s sales and marketing investments rose 58% year over year to $367 million in the first quarter and marketing spend is expected to come in above the $1.1 billion spent in 2018, The Information said, citing undisclosed financial data. Revenue reportedly grew 31% year over year to $839 million, while expenses climbed 47%.

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In the biggest U.S. initial public offering (IPO) of 2020 and capping a bumper year in which investors flocked to tech stocks, shares of Airbnb Inc more than doubled in their stock market debut on Thursday, valuing at just over $100 billion.

Airbnb opened at $146 on the Nasdaq, far above the IPO price of $68 per share that raised $3.5 billion for the company. The stock hit a high of $165 and closed at $144.71. The IPO is the culmination of a stunning recovery in Airbnb’s fortunes after the firm’s business was heavily damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year. But as lockdowns eased, more travelers opted to book homes instead of hotels, helping Airbnb post a surprise profit for the third quarter. The San Francisco-based firm also gained from increased interest in renting homes away from major cities.

At the start of trading on the Nasdaq, Airbnb had a market capitalization of $86.5 billion, eclipsing that of online travel agency Booking Holdings Inc and hotel chain Marriott International Inc.

Including securities such as options and restricted stock units, Airbnb’s fully diluted valuation came to $100.7 billion, more than five times the $18 billion Airbnb was valued at in a private fundraising round in April at the outset of the pandemic. Airbnb’s worth was pegged at $31 billion in its last pre-COVID-19 private fundraising in 2017.

The eye-popping rise in Airbnb’s stock on its debut comes just a day after the share price of food delivery company DoorDash Inc doubled in their first day of trading.

Such large first-day trading gains are likely to fuel criticism from some venture capital investors, including Benchmark’s Bill Gurley, who argue investment banks underprice IPOs so their investor clients can score large gains when the stock starts trading. Such advocates have pushed for companies to consider listing shares through a direct listing, in which bankers have little influence on the price at which stock is sold.

Airbnb shares ended the day

up more than 112% in its IPO debut Thursday, the latest tech stock to show monster gains in its first day of trading this year. Shares of Airbnb originally priced at $68 Wednesday night, but showed a massive pop Thursday afternoon when it opened trading at $146 per share. The global company now has a market cap of about $86.5 billion.

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