Airbnb's success story stands out in stark contrast to the struggles of other startups. Unlike Zillow's disastrous attempt at house-flipping, Airbnb has flourished for over a decade. Their revenue skyrocketed, tripling from $3.3 billion to nearly $10 billion. Even more impressive, they flipped profitability, going from annual losses of $4-5 billion to earning the same staggering amount. Perhaps the strongest indicator of their dominance is their resilient stock price. Unlike the post-IPO crashes
  • @Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10•7 months ago

    What wasn’t a nightmare was bed and breakfasts. They also weren’t an excuse to keep property off the housing rental market at scale.

    These companies aren’t saviours, they’re businesses who rode public tech optimism and common frustration at established industries in the same fields to stay ahead of regulation and have the public demand it. Surprise, they’re the same businesses.

    • gian English
      1•7 months ago

      They also weren’t an excuse to keep property off the housing rental market at scale.

      True. But given that houses were off the market even before, I don’t think it is exclusively their fault.

      For example Milano historically always had about 30% of the available homes empty, and that even before Airbnb.