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Thursday 7 May, 2020
TOP STORY
Airbnb to trim workforce by 25 per cent
Airbnb is laying off 1,900 team members and slashing its investment in hotels and its luxury business ventures in a move to help the travel behemoth survive the coronavirus crisis.
If you missed our last newsletter....check out the stories below:
1. Airbnb to launch 'Enhanced Cleaning Initiative'
2. CMA threatens legal action over refund refusals
3. Frontdesk secures $6.8m Series A funding round
4. TurnKey Vacation Rentals facing class action lawsuit
5. TripAdvisor to lay off close to 25 per cent of global workforce
6. Airbnb scraps apartment suite plans at Rockefeller Center
Editor's comment
07•05•20 Welcome to the latest, new-look ShortTermRentalz weekly newsletter!
• The news that Airbnb was laying off employees may not have been a huge shock to many within the industry given the cuts at the likes of Booking.com and Expedia, however the scale of trimming its workforce by up to 25 per cent certainly was, and it will have serious ramifications for the direction CEO Brian Chesky decides to take it from now on.
Just weeks after securing successive $1 billion rounds of funding and facing a public backlash over the handling of its refund policy, the company is scaling back its investment in hotels and its Luxe platform, as well as "pausing" the expansion of its portfolio into transportation, aviation and in-house media content.
It suggests that Airbnb's plans to become an "all-in-one" travel portal will have to be put on hold to help it survive this crisis, even if it means not providing as broad an accommodation offering as market competitors such as Booking.com and Expedia. Should it emerge intact from this crisis, the company will look inherently different to the one that entered it back in March: one that is more focused on its core rental business with an eye on attracting mid-term stays, and with greater intent to improve communications with hosts and guests.
In other content, Stasher CEO and co-founder, Jacob Wedderburn-Day speaks about the challenges of being a young travel tech founder during a crisis such as this and tips he has for other founders in a similar position, while Boostly owner Mark Simpson joined me in the latest episode of the new STRz podcast here to provide communication advice for hospitality owners struggling as a result of Covid-19.
Ahead of URBAN LIVING FESTIVAL 2020: stay-live-work on 25-26 November at Tobacco Dock London, IHM has also launched its own Urban Living webinar series - check out the schedule here.
If you have a story you want us to tell the industry, please click here and get involved with the community by joining our ShortTermRentalz LinkedIn group here.
Paul Stevens, news editor
paul@internationalhospitality.media
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