Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky isn’t worried about a sluggish economy hurting travel

Airbnb Inc. Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said the company is poised for its best quarter yet and he’s not worried about the economic slowdown hurting a travel resurgence after two years of Covid-19 restrictions.

“We’re not too concerned right now about the macro environment,” Chesky said in a Wednesday interview with Bloomberg Television. “Whatever happens to the economy, people I think are still going to want to live on Airbnb and still want to travel.”

Despite inflation reaching its highest levels in more than 40 years, consumers have continued to splurge on travel rentals. The San Francisco-based company reported second-quarter sales of $2.1 billion, with rates climbing 40%. Airbnb is expecting average daily rates to increase slightly in the current quarter and is forecasting record revenue of $2.78 billion to $2.88 billion.

That growth puts the company in a unique position in a tech industry that’s been slowing down. While companies like Netflix Inc. and Coinbase Global Inc. are laying off employees, Airbnb continues to expand. It’s a much different position than Airbnb was in during the early days of the pandemic, when the company lost 80% of its business in eight weeks and had to make hard choices.