“We think Airbnb is a really great platform to redistribute tourism. We work on products that make it easier for us to point demand to where we have supply.”
Those were the words of Amir Segall, the commercial director at Airbnb, during a center stage interview with PhocusWire’s senior Europe reporter, Linda Fox, earlier this month at Phocuswright Europe.
Segall’s views are supported in an analysis released today of Airbnb and OpenStreetMap data in 10 popular European travel destinations. The analysis shows in 2022 there were more than 3 million guest arrivals in communities with Airbnbs and no hotels, helping to disperse guests while generating more than $710 million to local hosts.
During the on-stage interview, Segall elaborated on some of the ways Airbnb seeks to disperse travel, highlighting programs such as “Flexible Destinations,” which can reveal unique listing categories, from boats to tiny homes or even private islands.
“We think categories is really a way to sort of reinvent the way that people travel, and we’re seeing continuous growth in that area,” Segall said.
In the far-ranging conversation, Segall and Fox also talked about how Airbnb manages to keep its marketing costs so low; how the company will measure success for its new emphasis on the rooms program; and how it copes with the increasing pressure of regulation on short-term rentals.
On the latter point, Segall said that out of the company’s top 200 markets in terms of revenue, 80% have some form of regulation, which he sees as a benefit to the company and the homeowners who register with Airbnb.
“A lot of hosts can earn significant income. Especially in these tough financial times, that’s a very important source of income,” he said. “So we work very closely with governments and cities.”
Watch the full interview below:
Executive Interview: Checking In with Airbnb - Phocuswright Europe 2023