Airbnb has serious office space in San Francisco, but CEO Brian Chesky isn’t spending much time there these days—and he’s not working from home, either.
Chesky has been staying in Airbnb rentals in different parts of the country for a week or two at a time, and touching base with his home in between. He told USA Today that “All you need is a laptop and someone’s internet in their home and you can do your job. In fact, you can even run a nearly $100 billion company.” Atlanta was his first stop.
One effect of the pandemic—many office workers working from home—has led to changes for Airbnb, too, since ‘home’ can be anywhere once it’s not the office. Airbnb says that 20% of its stayed nights are now part of rentals that go 28 days or longer, and rentals longer than seven days are over 50%, up significantly from 2019.
Chesky expects the trend to continue, especially for families without young children tied to a local school system, although he also thinks that even some of those families might take advantage of remote work to spend longer time away in the summer while working.
For some companies, he thinks, remote working will become permanent enough that new employees won’t have to live near their jobs, or relocate.
