Two buddies in a San Francisco shared apartment, hefty rents, and a conference that fills all of the hotel rooms. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia offered three individuals an air mattress and breakfast in their apartment to make additional money for the rent. Airbnb was founded in 2007 as “Air Bed and Breakfast” and became Airbnb two years later. Airbnb’s services have grown to include entire residences, houses, and individual rooms. People have visited Airbnb 300 million times by the end of the decade.
Then there was the epidemic. “We saw our China business had collapsed by 80 percent in only a few weeks at the end of January,” Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky recounted in the podcast.
The travel industry, in particular, was severely impacted by the corona pandemic and continues to suffer. The corporation was able to pull itself together again after dramatic headlines surrounding the platform’s existence at the start of the pandemic.
On the other hand, Chesky is forecasting a recovery in the global travel business but also the emergence of wholly new travel habits that might transform the industry from the ground up. “We are experiencing a transformation in the way we live and work around the planet. “The pandemic has suddenly freed millions of people from having to go to work,” the CEO stated on a conference call to discuss the third quarter’s results.
Satoshis Is On Vacation
We can shift our office to any area with an internet connection, regardless of national borders. It doesn’t matter if you’re staying in a little wooden cottage in the Swiss Alps or the royal city palace of Jaipur, which is available for rent on Airbnb. All of these changes had to be accounted for within Airbnb, and new structures had to be built to avoid falling behind.
The accommodation platform was no longer merely a means to an end in terms of vacation booking but rather an integral element of the new way of working.
In response to the transformation in travel, employment, and housing, the CEO asked his Twitter followers what they wanted from Airbnb “if Airbnb could launch anything in 2022.”
Out of a total of 4,000, the most popular recommendation was to integrate bitcoin payments into the site. At the same time, the Airbnb founder clarified that cryptocurrencies refer to a wide range of token concepts. Is it true that there are multiple cryptocurrencies in the room?
The corporation isn’t completely unfamiliar with this concept. Airbnb offers a glimpse into the future even before the IPO. The platform’s future success will be determined, among other things, by its ability to adapt to new technologies such as “tokenization, cryptocurrencies, new authentication technologies such as biometrics, distributed ledger and to adopt blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and cloud technologies,” according to the IPO application to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In light of this, it seems unreasonable to dismiss Airbnb’s cryptocurrency inclusion as a Twitter gimmick. The business had its sights set on decentralised technologies for a long time. Chesky also confirmed to The Verge that the corporation is looking into the matter.
“Like the revolution in travel, there is a revolution happening in the crypto economy,” said the CEO.
Payments On Airbnb
Airbnb told BTC-ECHO that “a lot of modifications” to the service are being considered. “We’ve processed $336 billion in payments since 2013,” according to Airbnb. “Airbnb Payments provides a unique advantage to Airbnb that is crucial to our guests’ and hosts’ trust in our business and our success.” Airbnb has a custom, integrated payment system that accepts payments in over 40 currencies between hosts and guests. The Airbnb-specific payment mechanism, as well as the flexibility that comes with it, makes future modifications and the development of new processes quite simple. Given that around 93 percent of Airbnb hosts are currently paid in their local currency, the inclusion of cryptocurrency appears worthwhile.
Crypto payments would eliminate the need to convert individual currencies for international bookings because they are tokens that may be sent across national borders. When asked if the planned “updates” involve the incorporation of cryptocurrency payments, Airbnb refused to provide any details and declined to comment further.
Overall, Airbnb appears to be heavily focused on the subject of cryptocurrency. We can only speculate on what we can expect from the corporation at this time. But one thing is sure: Chesky recognizes the significance of cryptography. His curiosity, however, does not appear to extend into the Metaverse (yet).
Is There An Airbnb In The Metaverse?
According to reports, reports have spent thousands of dollars on virtual lots, houses, and luxury yachts on Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and other Metaverse sites. Travel restrictions established by several countries and areas in response to the corona outbreak are undoubtedly playing a role. One could think that these are excellent conditions for Airbnb to expand into the Metaverse.
The CEO, on the other hand, seemed to be holding back his joy. Chesky stated in an interview with Rafat Ali, the founder, and CEO of Skift, that the digital revolution posed a significant risk. “We are living in one of the most lonely periods in human history,” stated Airbnb’s CEO.
On the other hand, physical communities would lose much of their “nutrition” if they were “atomized,” or digitalized, according to Chesky. That doesn’t sound like someone enthusiastic about virtual reality. The Airbnb CEO also has an opinion on Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse idea. So, while he believes the internet will become more “immersive,” he wonders if it will be able to replace real life or if it will be limited to the two-dimensional web.
Airbnb’s origins can be traced back to the physical world’s human society.
“This notion of human connection and the risk that the world is isolated, lonely and divided – if Airbnb has a reason for being (…) it can bring people from all cultures of the world together in the physical world,” explained Chesky into decoders. “That will always be relevant as long as people are relevant in this world.”
