Orders drop sharply, airbnb will be listed under pressure

Nearly a year after the official announcement was listed, airbnb finally took the first step. For airbnb, this is not an easy decision. On the one hand, the sharing economy has encountered Uber and Wework’s major Waterloo in 2019; on the other hand, the impact of the epidemic is still intense and sustained. The industry once speculated that airbnb might slow down its listing time, but it seems that its desire to go public has not been affected. The industry believes that the pressure on investors and employees to cash options is likely behind the acceleration of airbnb listing. However, valuations may not be very good for IPOs under the epidemic. Since this year, news about the coming of airbnb has been circulated in several rounds. On August 20, according to foreign media such as Reuters, airbnb announced that it had submitted a draft IPO registration to the securities and Exchange Commission of the United States (SEC), but it has not disclosed its financial information, and the number of shares issued and the valuation sought have not been determined. Based on market and other conditions, airbnb expects the initial public offering to be conducted after the SEC completes the audit process. Subsequently, the reporter of Beijing business daily confirmed the news from airbnb China. Meanwhile, the reporter also learned that airbnb has not given a timetable for completing the IPO. However, it was previously disclosed that the company plans to complete its listing by the end of this year, depending on the market conditions, but the claim has not been confirmed by airbnb. As for airbnb, there are some accidents in the outside world. After all, the domestic and residential industry is not small affected by the epidemic, and airbnb is no exception, and the order volume has declined to some extent. According to a report released by airbnb analysis company airdna in March, orders in many international metropolises such as Seoul and Rome have fallen 40% from the same period last year, and the number of bookings in New York has also decreased by 21%. The report also shows that tourists in Europe have started to delay or cancel travel plans due to outbreaks, and that the number of home accommodation bookings in Europe began to decline significantly in the last two weeks of February. In the domestic market, in the first week of March (March 1-7), the number of airbnb pre orders in Beijing was only 1655, down 96 percent compared with the order pre orders of over 40000 on January 5-11. As the representative of the domestic and residential industry giants and the sharing economy, the listing of airbnb affects the market nerves. The head of a short rent residential housing company admitted that the listing of airbnb is a good thing for the short rent industry, which will also strengthen the confidence of more domestic short rent residential housing enterprises to continue to develop. But the way of airbnb listing is not smooth. In September, airbnb announced it would be publicly available in 2020, when it was valued at $31billion. This year, although the epidemic has hit the housing industry, the rumors about the listing of airbnb are still in the ear. It is understood that in the most serious period of the epidemic, airbnb still does not change its “do not exclude the possibility of listing this year”. In recent years, airbnb has also released the signal of listing. On June 9, for the listing, airbnb CEO Brian Chesky even said directly that airbnb still does not rule out the possibility of listing this year, but also does not promise to be listed. Until August 20, airbnb announced that it had submitted a draft IPO registration to the securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and it was rumored that it was finally closed. Zhao Huanyan, chief knowledge officer and senior economist of Huamei hotel consultant, believes that on the one hand, airbnb may be caused by the pressure of investors behind it, on the other hand, it does not exclude the pressure of the internal staff to fulfill the construction period right. It is pointed out by industry that the options of airbnb employees will expire successively from November 2020 to mid-2021. If airbnb does not IPO in this period, it means that these stock options will become worthless. However, the statement has not been officially confirmed. In addition, Beijing Business Daily reporter also learned that although airbnb has made corresponding cuts in order to save costs this year, after the layoffs, these employees still have the right to hold options. In addition, since this year, airbnb has also financed and lent to ease the pressure on cash flow. Zhao believes that if airbnb is listed successfully, the cash flow pressure can be relieved and the epidemic will be basically over. The listing of the company may relieve the cash flow pressure of airbnb to some extent, but it is not the panacea. According to Zhao, the biggest challenge for airbnb in the future comes from the impact of the epidemic on the one hand, and the reality of the global regulation of shared accommodation. According to the latest data released by airbnb, on July 8, the single day night reservation volume of the house sources around the world was over 1million for the first time after the outbreak, and the global business is recovering steadily. Even so, the impact of the epidemic on shared accommodation is still not over. It is understood that the current international flight volume is still far from the level before the outbreak, which also means that the number of international travel will also decline significantly compared with previous years. According to data, the number of bookings for airbnb platform fell 30% year on year in June. In some industry people’s opinion, airbnb’s valuation will be affected by the epidemic more or less. There was still rumors that airbnb had cut its internal valuation from $31billion in 2017 to $26billion in early March. It is still unclear how much it is.

, on the other hand, Gu Huimin, Dean of the school of tourism science, Beijing International Studies University, also believes that the shared housing industry faces two uncertainties, including how to get rid of the “grey area” of shared housing and how the industry continues to maintain rapid growth under the slowdown. Zhao Huanyan further pointed out that the management of shared accommodation has been strengthened in the world at present. The restrictions on shared accommodation will be more strict in some big cities in Europe and America, such as New York and Paris. Recently, the official website of Beijing housing and Urban Rural Construction Commission issued the notice on regulating the management of short rent housing (Draft for comments), which intends to clarify the operating conditions of short rent housing, the requirements for information verification on Internet platform, the responsibility of territorial supervision and punishment for violation of the rules. Moreover, the short rent of the house in the future needs to be approved by the owners’ meeting of the community. Therefore, whether the sharing accommodation mode can be further developed in some cities and whether other cities will follow the policies of this kind of policy remains to be further observed.