Name: Airbnb to cut 1,900 jobs as travel industry reels
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Airbnb to cut 1,900 jobs as travel industry reels

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWith the travel industry reeling from the pandemic, Airbnb will lay off a quarter of its workforce, almost 1,900 people, CEO Brian Chesky told employees of the San Francisco vacation-rental company on Tuesday.“We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime, and as it began to unfold, global travel came to a standstill,” Chesky wrote in an email to workers. “Airbnb’s business has been hit hard, with revenue this year forecasted to be less than half of what we earned in 2019.”While the company has responded by raising $2 billion in capital and cutting costs, without knowing when travel will return and what it will look like, Airbnb needs to become a “more focused business,” he wrote.That means reducing less-essential aspects, such as its Luxe division that handles rentals of expensive, high-end homes, many of which came through Airbnb’s 2017 acquisition of Luxury Retreats for around $200 million. Airbnb will also put less emphasis on boutique hotels and no longer produce promotional videos.The news is not a surprise, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmospheric Research.More for you“When your business has evaporated and the outlook is uncertain, you simple can’t afford to keep everybody on board,” he said.Airbnb ranks among the world’s most valuable startups, with a private market valuation of $35 billion before the pandemic crisis hit. Chesky declared in September that Airbnb would to become a public company.The company declined to comment on its plan to go public and on whether it’s feeling pressure because some employee equity is set to expire later this year, making the shares worthless if the company is still private.Airbnb’s hosts, some 7 million people worldwide who rent out houses and rooms to travelers via its website, are not employees. They have already seen as travel stopped.Some were irate at Airbnb, which refunded guests’ money for cancellations no matter what kind of refund policies hosts had in place. The company responded by to pay a quarter of whatever hosts would have received under their existing cancellation policies.Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutesAirbnb will face more challenges when travel starts to return, Harteveldt said. He said he thinks hotels may have an initial advantage over home rentals for virus-wary guests.“Hotels have professional housekeepers who will use commercial-grade cleaning products, and will be trained in the new standards,” he said.On the other hand, some guests may prefer a private home where they’re not sharing a lobby and elevator with others, as well as the ability to cook in a kitchen rather than visiting restaurants, he said.Airbnb is providing generous severance pay. Laid-off U.S. workers will get 14 weeks of pay plus one week for every year of tenure, plus health care coverage for one year. In the 24 other countries where Airbnb has staff, workers will get at least 14 weeks of pay and health care coverage through December.Departing employees with less than a year at the company will still get equity. All those leaving will be eligible for a May 25 vesting date.Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWith the travel industry reeling from the pandemic, Airbnb will lay off a quarter of its workforce, almost 1,900 people, CEO Brian Chesky told employees of the San Francisco vacation-rental company on Tuesday.“We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime, and as it began to unfold, global travel came to a standstill,” Chesky wrote in an email to workers. “Airbnb’s business has been hit hard, with revenue this year forecasted to be less than half of what we earned in 2019.”While the company has...

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Carolyn Said

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Airbnb to cut 1,900 jobs as travel industry reels

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