Airbnb CEO says business travel will never be the same. Gadget theory

According to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, despite the fact that travel has increased since the beginning of the pandemic, he believes business travel will never return to the way it was pre-pandemic. He spoke with CNN ‘s Poppy Harlow and shared his thoughts.

Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb

Chesky says, “It does not mean that business travel is dead, just business travel, because we knew it would not return as it was. The reason why the bar is higher is to climb on a plane to do a meeting. ”

He points out that in the past year where people have been lying on the ground, companies have realized how much much of this work can be done remotely.

Chesky went on to say, “I think people now have what they did not have a year or two ago. A lot of people now have flexibility. They have flexibility where they travel and live and work – and they start combining all of that. I think that once people have something, they do not want to let it go. ”

Chesky says business travel will never be the same

Airbnb’s platform serves 220 countries when it comes to finding and booking accommodations. Of course, the company was hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has recently seen an increase in travel now that faxes are available.

Airbnb believes that the future of travel lies in flexibility. The company recently announced that it has made more than 100 changes and upgrades to its service to cater to guests and hosts. This includes a simplified onboarding process for new ads and new ways to search for listings.

Airbnb has shared that people are more open and flexible about when and where they want to travel. This also includes options for longer stays at certain locations. Chesky shared that about a quarter of all bookings in Q1 of 2021 were for long-term stays of about 28 days or more.

The company says long-term travel is the new normal