The short-term accommodation platform Airbnb reported this Tuesday net profits of $4.8 billion in 2023 and highlighted its growth and good business prospects in the Latin American market.
The American company increased its annual profit by 152% compared to 2022, which was its first profitable year, and had a total turnover of 9.9 billion dollars, 18% higher, although it recorded losses in the fourth and last quarter due to its tax problems in Italy.
According to a statement, in the fourth quarter of 2023 Airbnb lost $349 million, coinciding with the payment of €576 million to the Italian Tax Agency in December to resolve a dispute over non-payment of taxes between 2017 and 2021 in that country.
Excluding that charge, the company assured that The fourth quarter of 2023 was its most profitable quarter to date, with an adjusted profit of $489 million.
The tourist apartment business of Airbnb and other similar firms has led to the increase in prices in the housing market and traditional hospitality in many cities in which it operates, especially the largest ones, such as New York, which have created rules and regulations to control it.
However, Airbnb exceeded analysts’ expectations with figures that reflect its growth, and specified that its accommodation supply at the end of 2023 was the largest to date, 7.7 million active listings, 18% more year-on-year, with an increase spread across all regions.
Of course, the firm highlighted the strong growth of its supply of “nights and experiences” in Latin Americaregion in which reserves increased 22% year-on-year in the fourth quarter and where it intends to focus on the current year as part of an international expansion strategy.
The reserves for that quarter more than doubled the figures for the same period in 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic, in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, and were close to doubling them in Brazil (Mexico does not detail that volume, simply cites the country as one of the highlights).
“During each quarter of 2023, we saw the highest level of growth in nights and experiences booked in Latin Americaamong all regions, compared to 2019,” indicates the firm, which recognizes that this region is where supply and demand have grown the most, along with Asia-Pacific.
The company said it is in a “inflection point”an idea that he has already shared previously, and that has been three years “perfecting” its main service but is ready for “next chapter”.
After the publication of the report, at the close of Wall Street, the company’s shares shot up nearly 17%, but after a few minutes the trend changed and they fell 4% in electronic operations.