@Susan17
I can't see any sort of IPO happening Susan. Investors are not total fools. If Airbnb had gone public 18 months ago it may have worked briefly , but Susan, you are right, the ship is sinking. The rudder jammed a year or so ago but, the Covid-19 iceberg has dealt a mortal blow!
If they had used their brains and gathered together their core group.....that 30% of hosts who were productive....in other words they have properties that appeal to guests and are consistently booked regardless of whether they were part of Plus, Superhosts or rank and file, and got rid of that 70% that are just in it for a bob or two on the side every now and then....chooks running around in the back yard.....fighting to use a grimy shared bathroom! If they had stuck with the 4.86ers up, and got rid of the 4.6ers down, it could have worked. They could have formulated a support package that the serious host would have agreed to form a lasting relationship with.
Instead of that they have this steadfast belief that if you are big enough you become the law....you are not just part of society, you override its conventions and dictate to it.....much like Volkswagen did a few years ago with that diesel emissions thing. They figured they were bigger than the law!
Airbnb could have been a compact highly successful organisation where each division protected the other and every component was, an achiever. I would have invested in that!
Company fortunes change on a daily basis when they are subject to the stock market, and nobody is going to invest in a sales company that has got nothing to sell, and right now Airbnb have absolutely nothing to sell, the world is in lock-down and will be for the foreseeable future.
I am preparing for the next decade in my life, and with the way the company has performed over the past 2 + years since Oct 2018 I think I am better than the way we collectively as hosts have been treated. I can't see Airbnb playing any sort of a major role in my future, the way they have in my past! And I will bet you I am just one of a quarter of a million hosts who feel the same way.
Seems like a good idea that just went wrong!
If Airbnb are going to salvage anything out of this, that next briefing by the CEO is going to require a massive, transparent turn-around! We are all tired of what we have been hearing!
Cheers.......Rob