**https://thescienceofhitting.com/p/airbnb-turning-the-corner

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As 2023 draws to a close, Airbnb continues to reach new heights. Nights & Experiences (N&E) booked on the platform will approach 450 million this year, up ~6x since 2015, with cumulative guest spending (gross booking value, or GBV) of ~$73 billion. For its efforts, Airbnb will generate ~$9.8 billion in revenues (~13.5% of GBV, ~100 basis points higher than FY18). Finally, with help from a significant improvement in its cost structure over the past five years, Airbnb will generate EBIT of ~$2.4 billion, up nearly 30% over FY22. This is a new world for a company that previously struggled to stay in the black. Airbnb’s TTM operating margins are more than 3,000 basis points higher than pre-pandemic levels. This reflects OpEx leverage across all expense lines, with the most significant improvement attributable to Sales & Marketing expense (~1,700 basis point improvement from YE FY19 to YTD FY23). The near-death experience that Airbnb faced during the early days of the pandemic ultimately led to operational changes and a narrower strategic focus at the company; in hindsight, this is a much better business for having lived through those tough times. (“We made many difficult choices [during the pandemic] to reduce spending, making us a leaner and more focused company; we’ve kept this discipline ever since.”)