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Comment by nemo44x | Hacker News Reader

Well, I certainly expect their CFO did the arithmetic and found that their best path forward is to do this deal. It could be they can survive here for quite awhile and just burn cash. But if this pandemic goes on and on for 18 months they’d be in serious trouble.

So maybe this is asking for cash before it’s too late? Maybe this is the insurance they’re now buying.

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Airbnb is in a LOT of trouble if this pandemic fear persists for a while. Forget the obvious drop in casual travel, it's going to be hard to compete with hotels that can claim 100% control over their properties.

I can already picture the Mariott ads promising "100% sanitized rooms and common areas".

Can Airbnb guarantee the same? Not by a long shot.

Agreed. And hotels have political capital. Hell, the president is a hotel guy himself. They are getting bailed out. AirBnB is not.

Hotel companies that are solvent and can use this money as leverage will have an opening to eat AirBnB’s lunch.

Probably true on the control and more flexibility in dealing with this by the hotel chains. But if this pandemic lasts for 18 months, they'd all be in serious trouble too.

yea, its def a risk play.

Lets say they can make it 12 months with cash on hand, what does the funding env look like in 12 months?

There is def someone with a big spreadsheet who has modeled this out and decided this was the best path forward.

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