According to Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Airbnb, the company’s India business has nearly recovered to pre-epidemic levels, and the recovery has been very strong. Blecharczyk discusses the rebound in travel and tourism, assisting Ukrainians during times of conflict, and transforming the company’s future into an end-to-end travel platform in an interview with ET’s Vinod Mahant.
When do you think the business of Airbnb India will recover to pre-epidemic levels?
His Response: We’re almost done with our 2019 numbers in 2021. So, we’re nearly back to where we were before. In addition, the household position in rural India in the third quarter of 2021 was more than double that of the same period in 2019. During the epidemic, we saw this change in many countries. People are travelling within their own country, particularly in rural areas, to places they have never visited before. Last year, Airbnb guests visited 6,000 new cities and towns that had never been visited by an Airbnb guest before. This will be a fantastic opportunity with the resumption of international travel.
Is Airbnb planning to increase its investment in India?
In Bengaluru, we plan to open a technology hub. We’re ecstatic to be a part of Bengaluru’s tech scene. In the near future, we hope to hire more than 100 high-tech employees. We’ve always wanted to bring our innovative culture to Bengaluru’s ecosystem. This, I believe, will be critical as we serve India. In India, tourism will soon recover, and we look forward to working with local governments across the country. The centre will assist us and our local teams in more effectively localising Airbnb in their respective markets.
Various journey and tourism-related platforms are competing to be end-to-end service providers for travellers. What stage of the journey are you on?
It’s something we aspire to, and we were working on a variety of different tasks prior to the pandemic. Now that the pandemic has struck, we must carefully consider what is most important to us. Clearly, the pandemic has struck us hard right now. We saw our income drop by 80% in two weeks and realised we needed to make some sacrifices. We were unable to continue doing what we had been doing previously. And that was after we made the decision to double down on what sets us apart, which is the fact that we now have hosts. We have some unusual people who find themselves providing unique hospitality. Whether it’s by sharing their homes, sharing their experiences, or making recommendations.
Right now, we have 4 million hosts. However, we estimate that we will have tens of millions more. As a result, we believe that this is still an underutilised option that we should pursue. I believe that as we consider the end-to-end platform, we will ensure that we consider how to approach it in a way that capitalises on our differentiators. Everything we do revolves around the needs of the guests.
Do you think the Ukraine-Russia conflict will cause travel plans to be pushed back this summer?
I believe it is too early to tell. All of this happened over the course of a few weeks. No one could have predicted where we are now two weeks ago. So far, this conflict has been limited to a specific geographic area; however, we are seeing the effects of it across the board in terms of fuel prices, refugees, and so on.
However, I believe that one thing we’ve learned from the pandemic is that there is a desire to travel, a need to connect, and a pent-up demand. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in travel.
What we’ve discovered at Airbnb is that you can quickly adapt as shopper behaviour changes. Our platform has inherent adaptability; the fact that we now have houses, not just in cities, but also in rural areas. As a result, we’ll meet demand wherever it arises, even if it’s only in the United States. And we’ve tried to anticipate what customers want right now.
So, in the last year, we’ve launched more than 150 product options based on what customers are looking for right now. We have a feature called a versatile search that allows people to look for and book a place to stay without having to specify specific dates. Since its launch, our flexible date search tool has been used to conduct over 800 million searches. Throughout a period of significant change, we’ve innovated and remained extremely agile, focusing on the needs of our customers. And that will be our strategy moving forward, as we expect the journey to continue to change. We’re going to be extremely aware of it.
Many people from all over the world booked Airbnb apartments in Ukraine during the Ukraine-Russia conflict, with no intention of staying, just to help the Ukrainians. Could you tell us how that idea came to you?
This is the first time we’ve ever witnessed something like this. The people’s goal is to pay directly to those who have been affected by the war in Ukraine. These hosts have not been requested. It is sincere in its desire to assist in the emergence of generosity among guests all over the world. Nearly $ 1.5 million has been donated to the platform in the last 24 hours – a significant sum of money in such a short period of time.
In the meantime, Airbnb has pledged to house 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in the coming months. Essentially, airbnb.org and its donors are contributing funds to help pay for it. In addition, Airbnb hosts are opening their homes to help refugees arriving from Ukraine, some for free and others at a reduced rate.
