Airbnb

History

In October 2007, in San Francisco, California, to help fund their rent payments, roommates and former schoolmates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia came up with an idea of putting an air mattress in their living room and turning it into a bed and breakfast during a conference held by the Industrial Designers Society of America, when travelers had a hard time finding lodging in the city. After the idea was very successful, the pair realized that they had a possible business idea. In February 2008, Nathan Blecharczyk, Chesky's former roommate, joined as the chief technology officer and the third co-founder of the new venture, which they named "AirBed & Breakfast". They put together a website that offered short-term living quarters and breakfast for those who were unable to book a hotel in the saturated market. The site Airbedandbreakfast.com was launched on August 11, 2008.

After the founders raised $30,000 by selling cereal named after the two candidates of the 2008 United States presidential election, Barack Obama and John McCain, mostly at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, computer programmer Paul Graham invited the founders to the January 2009 winter training session of his startup incubator, Y Combinator, which provided them with training and $20,000 in funding in exchange for a 6% interest in the company. With the website already built, they used the Y Combinator investment to fly to New York to meet users and promote the site. They returned to San Francisco with a profitable business model to present to West Coast investors. By March 2009, the site had 10,000 users and 2,500 listings.

In March 2009, the name of the company was shortened to Airbnb.com to eliminate confusion over air mattresses. At the March 2011 South by Southwest conference, Airbnb won the "app" award. In July 2014, Airbnb revealed design revisions to the site and mobile app and introduced a new logo. It also announced a partnership with Concur, an expense reporting service for businesses.

In 2014, linguist Mark Liberman criticized the extreme length of the legal agreements that Airbnb members are required to accept, with the site's terms of service, privacy policy, and other policies amounting to "55081 words, or about the size of a short novel, though much less readable".

In April 2015, following the easing of restrictions on U.S. businesses to operate in Cuba, Airbnb expanded to Cuba, making it one of the first U.S. companies to do so. In July 2016, former Attorney General Eric Holder was hired to help craft an anti-discrimination policy for Airbnb after reports showed that hosts were refusing to accept lodging requests from guests whose names suggested that they were black. As part of the reform, photos of prospective guests are hidden from hosts until requests for lodging are accepted.

Corporate office history

In October 2011, Airbnb established an office in London, its first international office. In early 2012, Airbnb opened offices in Paris, Milan, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Moscow, and São Paulo. These openings were in addition to existing offices in San Francisco, London, Hamburg, and Berlin. In September 2013, the company announced that it would establish its European headquarters in Dublin.

In November 2012, Airbnb opened an office in Sydney, its 11th office location, and announced plans to launch the service in Thailand and Indonesia. In December 2012, Airbnb opened an office in Singapore. In April 2022, Airbnb instituted a policy of unlimited remote working for almost all its employees.

Share sales, corporate borrowing and valuation history

In April 2009, the company received $600,000 in seed money from Sequoia Capital, with Youniversity Ventures partners Jawed Karim, Keith Rabois, and Kevin Hartz participating. Shares were sold for $0.01 each. In November 2010, Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital invested $7.2 million in a Series A round. Shares were sold for $0.21 each (split adjusted). In July 2011, Andreessen Horowitz, Digital Sky Technologies, General Catalyst, and A Grade Investments partners Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary invested $112 million in the company. Shares were sold for $3.21 each (split adjusted). In April 2014, TPG Capital invested $450 million in the company at a valuation of $10 billion. Additional funding was provided by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, T. Rowe Price, and Sherpa Capital. Shares in this round were sold for $20.36 each (split adjusted).

In June 2015, General Atlantic, Hillhouse Capital Group, Tiger Management, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GGV Capital, China Broadband Capital, and Horizons Ventures invested $1.5 billion in the company. Shares in this round were sold for $46.55 each (split adjusted).

In September 2016, Google Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures invested $555.5 million in the company at a valuation of $30 billion. Shares in this round were sold for $52.50 each (split adjusted). In March 2017, Airbnb raised $1 billion in funding, bringing total funding raised to more than $3 billion and valuing the company at $31 billion. Shares in this round were sold for $52.50 each (split adjusted). In April 2020, Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners acquired $1 billion in shares in the company at an $18 billion valuation and $1 billion in debt at interest rates of 9%–11.5%.

Regulations

Regulations have been imposed on short-term rental platforms after proponents argued that short-term rental has reduced affordable housing and contributed to the increase of long-term rental prices due to changes in housing supply and demand; short-term rentals can be more lucrative than long-term rentals for landlords and also attract investors who bid up housing prices. Supporters of short-term rentals argue that the impact on housing prices has been minimal and that the way to increase affordable housing is to increase the housing supply. Examples include Lisbon, where a moratorium on short-term rentals did not reduce housing costs; it only increased hotel prices.

In rare cases, landlords have been accused of illegally evicting tenants to convert properties into short-term rentals to obtain higher rents.

The hotel industry has lobbied for additional regulations on short-term rentals, which compete with hotels. Short-term rental platforms also use lobbying to promote their interests.

In addition to government-imposed restrictions, many homeowner associations also limit short-term rentals. Neighborhood community groups have voiced concern that short-term residents can cause issues with congestion, noise, and safety.

Regulation of short-term rentals can include requirements for hosts to have business licenses, payment of hotel taxes, limitations on the number of days that a space is rented, requirements for hosts to occupy the space, and compliance with building, city and zoning standards.

Regulations by jurisdiction

Amsterdam: Hosts can rent their properties for up to 30 nights per year to a group of no more than four at a time. Short-term rentals are banned in certain areas.

Barcelona: Licenses and higher property taxes are required. All short-term rentals will be banned in November 2028.

Berlin: Licenses are required. Hosts must live in most of the property.

Budapest: Licenses and taxation are required; short-term rentals are banned in certain areas.

Ireland: Licenses are required. Short-term rentals are restricted to a maximum of 90 days per year for primary residences.

Lisbon: Licenses are required. Short-term rentals are limited to 10% of the housing stock.

London: Short-term rentals are limited to 90 days per year.

Lucerne: Short-term rentals are limited to 90 days per year.

Madrid: Listings without private entrances are banned.

Palma de Mallorca: Short-term rentals are banned.

Paris: Hosts can rent their homes for no more than 120 days per year. Licenses are required.

Rome: Short-term rental sites are required to withhold a 21% rental income tax.

Venice: Hosts must collect and remit tourist taxes.

Vienna: Short-term rentals are banned in specific "residential zones" within the city, with the exemption of apartments occupied by the host.

Corporate affairs

Finances

The key trends for Airbnb are (as at the financial year ending December 31):

2025 revenue by geographic region:

Board of Directors

From Airbnb's governance section, the following individuals serve on the Board of Directors in 2025:

Brian Chesky, Co‑founder, CEO & Chairman of the Board

Angela Ahrendts, Independent director and former head of Apple's retail division

Amrita Ahuja, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Block

Nathan Blecharczyk, Co‑founder & Chief Strategy Officer

Kenneth Chenault, Independent director and former CEO of American Express.

Ellie Mertz, Independent director and Airbnb's CFO.

Joe Gebbia, Co‑founder

Jeff (Jeffrey) Jordan, Independent director and former CEO of OpenTable

Alfred Lin, Independent director and former COO of Zappos

James Manyika, Independent director and Senior Partner at McKinsey.

Other notable attributes

Airbnb does not have a loyalty program, in part attributed to its lack of business customers.

Airbnb features a review system in which guests and hosts can rate and review each other after a stay; reviews are not visible until both host and guest have submitted reviews or until the time period to review has closed, a system that aims to improve accuracy and objectivity by removing fears that users will receive a negative review in retaliation if they write one. However, the truthfulness and impartiality of reviews may be adversely affected by concerns that the reviews are not anonymous and prospective hosts may refuse to host a user who generally leaves negative reviews.

Philanthropy

Through Airbnb.org, the company facilitates and provides free and discounted stays to people impacted by emergencies such as natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russo-Ukrainian war in partnership with the International Organization for Migration. It was founded in 2012 with $6 million and 400,000 shares of Airbnb stock from the co-founders of Airbnb.

Legal issues

Lawsuits after incidents at properties

In very rare cases, Airbnb has been sued for safety issues that have occurred at properties rented via the platform including murder, sexual assault, drowning, and extortion by hosts. Airbnb argues it is merely an intermediary; however, victims have successfully sued for negligence when the company was aware of dangerous conditions and failed to act, or due to host liability. Airbnb has noted that its background checks should not be relied on to identify "all past criminal convictions or sex offender registrations ... or other red flags" and that convictions for "murder, terrorism, rape or child molestation" are not automatic disqualifiers for a host.

In 2021, the company paid $7 million to an Australian guest who was raped at knifepoint in New York City on New Year's Eve 2015 at a property rented via the platform.

While all indoor cameras are prohibited on properties listed on Airbnb, even if disclosed, a report by CNN noted that the company "consistently fails to protect its guests despite knowing hidden cameras are a persistent concern within its industry" and Airbnb has been sued several times after guests found hidden cameras in properties rented via the platform.

Complicity with price gouging

A lawsuit was filed in July 2025 against Airbnb alleging that it was complicit in price gouging by hosts after the 2025 California wildfires. The lawsuit is still in its early stages.

Failure to provide required information to governments

Airbnb has been sued by governments for failure to turn over required information for enforcement of laws related to illegal rentals and collection of hotel tax. These include disputes with New York City, Boston, Miami, and Belgium.

Legality of service fees in the Netherlands

In March 2020, a subdistrict court ruling in the Netherlands found that Airbnb charging service fees to both the host and the guest was illegal and that the 30,000 people who had rented as guests have a right for reimbursement if they file claims. Airbnb filed countersuits in an attempt to gain clarity on the ruling.

Weak policy against hate groups

In May 2024, a former Airbnb contractor alleged in a whistleblower complaint filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission that the company had weakened its policies against extremists and members of hate groups and dissolved its team that handled removing them from the platform. Airbnb denied the allegations. Examples include the reversal of the decision to remove the parents of Canadian far-right activist Lauren Southern from its platform after complaints by conservative media outlets.

Proposed removal of listings in Israeli settlements

In November 2018, Airbnb announced that it would remove the approximately 200 "listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians". However, after affected property owners filed lawsuits against Airbnb in both Israel and the United States alleging discrimination based on place of residence, in April 2019, the company reversed its plans to remove listings in the West Bank and instead promised to donate any profits from these listings to non-profit organizations dedicated to humanitarian aid.

On February 12, 2020, Airbnb was included on a list of companies operating in West Bank settlements involved in activities that "raised particular human rights concerns" published by the United Nations Human Rights Council. The company was categorized under "the provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements".