Dublin-based Airbnb unit accounts for 50% of firm's global revenues in 2022

Gordon Deegan

Revenues at the Irish arm of online accommodation rental service, Airbnb last year increased by 48 per cent from $2.82 billion to $4.19 billion (€3.83 billion) as nights booked exceeded pre-Covid-19 levels.

The Dublin-based Airbnb Ireland UC generated substantially all of its revenues from facilitating guest stays at accommodations offered by hosts on Airbnb’s online marketplace for users outside the United States.

The new accounts for Airbnb Ireland UC show that in spite of the $1.37 billion increase in revenues to $4.19 billion, pre-tax profits declined by 19 per cent from $121.49 million to $98.44 million (€90 million).

The firm recorded post-tax profits of $82.83 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of $15.6 million.

The directors state that the growth in revenues demonstrated the continued strong travel demand.

They state: “We saw significant growth with nights books exceeding pre-Covid-19 levels."

The Dublin-based unit accounted for 50 per cent of Airbnb’s global revenues of $8.4 billion in 2022.

The Irish-based firm’s profits declined as cost of sales increased by 55 per cent rising from $2.1 billion to $3.26 billion while administrative expenses increased by 43 per cent rising from $588.58 million to $843.72 million.

Airbnb set up its European HQ in Dublin in 2013 and numbers employed by the Irish-based firm increased from 361 to 380.

In a post balance sheet event, a note attached to the accounts discloses that in March 2023, the company sub-let a portion of its Dublin office space.

The note states that this followed the firm reviewing its real estate lease arrangements.

This, according to the note, came after the company adopted in 2022 a Live and Work Anywhere policy which permits the majority of employees to work remotely.

Staff costs at the company last year increased from $53.35 million to $56.48 million. The company’s wage costs of $35.5 million and share-based payments of $15.98 million add to a combined $51.48 million and average pay for the 380 workers is $135,473.

Airbnb was established in 2007 when two ‘hosts' welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 4 million hosts who have welcomed over 1.5bn guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe.

Earlier this year, Airbnb said that spending linked to its platform represented 10.5 per cent of all international tourism-related spending in Ireland in 2022.