Airbnb, the online community marketplace which enables users to list, discover, and book accommodation around the world, claims that around 17 million people from across the globe used their platform to find a place to stay during this summer. Airbnb has a significant presence in India as well.
In summer 2010, the website was used by around 47,000 people to find suitable place to stay via Airbnb and now, around 17 million people used the platform. That is a staggering 353x growth in five years.
Founded by Nathan Blecharczyk, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky in 2008, Airbnb now has more than 50 million people around the world who have listed their properties on the platform, and around 30 million people booked stays on Airbnb in this year. Out of that 30 million, 17 million booked during summer.
According to the report, more than half of the guests, about 54 percent were female while around 46 percent were male. Considering that the platform is mostly used by the younger blood, the average age of the guests comes to around 35 years.
However, the report suggests that most of the summer travelers stayed within their own continent. Most popular routes were from Paris to Lisbon, New York to the Catskills and Hudson Valley and Seoul to Osaka.
Airbnb has raised a massive $2.3 billion in 7 funding round from 31 investors till date. And its investors include the likes of Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Ashton Kutcher, Hillhouse Capital, among others. It has also acquired 7 start-up – Accoleo, Crashpadder, Nabewise, DailyBooth, Fondu, Localmind and Pencil Labs.
