The chief executive said the pandemic had sparked the “most profound change in travel since the airplane” as people became “less tethered and more flexible”.
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“People can travel anytime, they are travelling to more places and they are staying longer,” he said.
“The lines between travel, living and working are blurring and we are upgrading our service to make it easier for people to integrate travel into their lives, and for more people to become hosts.”
The comments came as
The holiday booking firm saw its revenue drop by almost a third last year as repeated lockdowns and travel restrictions hammered its business.
But the rollout of vaccinations drove up bookings in the first quarter, and the platform is now pinning its hopes on a sharp rebound this summer.
The new updates include new flexible dates and flexible destination booking options, clearer cancellation policies and a simplified sign-up process for hosts.
The changes are aimed at making it easier for people to book trips in the era of remote working.
“At this point, 24 per cent of our business is really living—we’re not just a travel company anymore,” Chesky said.
“You used to have to be wealthy to live somewhere else for the summer, but people can defer the costs now by renting [their primary home] on
Read more: Vaccinations drive
The
But he also predicted an era of “business travel 2.0”, where fully remote companies would return to central offices for key events.
The post
© City AM, source