Airbnb To Become a Shell of Its Former Self

by Matt Landau

If you haven't been following, the industry's biggest name has been in the headlines for all sorts of reasons this past week. Siding with guests, apologizing in a fake town hall, and taking a $1B investment(!!!) Here is my take on what may happen next.

+ Investors oust the CEO and begin endless pursuit of profits

+ Professional Hosts (after being thrown under the bus in a pivotal moment) continue to hate-use Airbnb but only as a tool (zero trust/loyalty in that relationship)

Read Mike Harrington's piece Advantage, Mom & Pops

+ Meanwhile, the company tries to revert back to core stakeholder hosts (shared homes and rooms) but business is slow because post-Covid travelers don't wanna share homes/rooms/germs  

+ With each difficult decision, the company does what investors do -- look for profit -- as a result eroding the "soul" (from users, you will hear, "this is not the Airbnb we used to love")

+ The company transitions to OTA model (for Milennials!) But the only problem is that they can't compete with actual OTAs like Booking et al who were made for this.

Maybe I'm being extreme, but I fear Airbnb will become a shell of what it once was. And I know it could not have been an easy decision, but I think the inflection point was overruling policy and betraying hosts by siding with guests on refunds. On the flip side, for hosts a lesson: understand the wall your ladder is leaning against before you climb up.