Airbnb Passes 100M Guests As Growing Pains Mount
Yesterday the home-sharing behemoth celebrated reaching its 100 millionth guest, but as the company continues to expand it needs to sort out some serious growing pains.
Airbnb is a far cry away from its origins as a single S.F. apartment with a bed for rent—the company now offers 2.3 million rooms, more than Hilton, Marriott and InterContinental combined, Bloomberg reports. And the firm is worth $30B—30% more than the world’s largest hotel company.
Most of its growing pains are in the form of increased regulatory scrutiny. New Yorkers face a law that could subject many hosts to up to $7.5k in fines. The company is also undergoing a legal battle with S.F., suing its hometown for allegedly illegally using its services to help enforce housing law regulations.
Airbnb is also working to address the charges of discrimination brought against it from black hosts and travelers who say they make less money or have received inferior guest experiences. Still, despite its many challenges, the home-sharing company is moving forward with plans to go public in the future. [Bloomberg]
