But if you compare it's business with Booking, you'll see that Booking is much cheaper not only as a guest, but also as an investor, having wider revenues + net income as well.
It's long gone the times since Airbnb was cheaper than a hotel, I remember back in the days, it would be roughly 50% cheaper. Nowadays, it's about the same price as a hotel.
For some occasions, like when you want to rent a home for 4 or more, it might make sense, but I fail to see how it's going to stay competitive in the long run.
Maybe now they are targeting a different customer than me, that likes to travel on a budget. As a consumer, I like the booking has competition and hotel prices have come down since the Airbnb explosive growth.
Booking also sell flights (on priceline) and is a much wider business, not to forget, that lots of hosts sell on both platforms.
To me, Airbnb looks like a doomed business. Sure, right now it's margins are okay, they've got a good brand, but that's pretty much all they've got.
I don't get why don't they explore other markets, or the "air" part in the name.