Airbnb - statistics & facts
It is no secret that Airbnb has seen staggering growth since its founding. The success of the platform in the global travel market hinges not only on its guests but also its hosts. As of 2024, over five million hosts listed their properties on Airbnb, recording as many as 1.5 billion guest check-ins. However, guests are of course a key component of the company’s success, and in 2024 over 490 million Airbnb nights and experiences were booked worldwide, resulting in Airbnb’s revenue reaching over 11 billion U.S. dollars that year.
Despite the controversies and the intense competition in the online travel market, Airbnb's growth shows no signs of slowing down. The company went public in December 2020, making it one of the top initial public offerings (IPOs) that year. Just four years later, in 2024, Airbnb’s global market capitalization was over 83.3 billion U.S. dollars.
Is Airbnb the leading global online travel company?
Airbnb is a significant player in the online travel market. However, it has a little way to go before it becomes the industry leader, placing third in a ranking of the leading online travel agencies (OTAs) by revenue – behind travel behemoths Booking Holdings and Expedia Group. The company was also the third most visited travel and tourism website worldwide in 2025, with around 100 million visits, almost 460 million less than leader Booking.com. Meanwhile, when looking at the most downloaded travel apps worldwide in 2024, Airbnb came in fourth place with 75.8 million downloads - Google Maps took the top spot with over 150 million more downloads. That said, in this case, Airbnb did place ahead of direct competitor, Booking.com.Has Airbnb’s success come at a cost?
Airbnb’s success has not come without controversy. The ease with which Airbnb hosts can list their properties on the platform caused a rush to buy up places in tourist hotspots – in some cases, displacing residents. Not only that, but this has also contributed to overtourism, particularly in Europe, with cities like Barcelona and Venice receiving millions of tourists each year. To combat these problems, tourism hotspots like New York have implemented laws requiring Airbnb’s short-term rental hosts to register with the city while adhering to specific conditions, such as living in the rental property and not hosting more than two guests at once. This caused a significant shift in the types of rentals listed on the platform with over 85 percent of Airbnb properties in New York being listed as long-term rentals in 2025.Despite the controversies and the intense competition in the online travel market, Airbnb's growth shows no signs of slowing down. The company went public in December 2020, making it one of the top initial public offerings (IPOs) that year. Just four years later, in 2024, Airbnb’s global market capitalization was over 83.3 billion U.S. dollars.
