February 2023
February 2023 brought Airbnb's first profitable year and Portugal's plan to freeze short-term rental licenses. On 14 February Airbnb reported 2022 net income of $1.9 billion and told investors nightly rates would come under pressure in 2023. Two days later Portugal's government proposed to stop new licenses outside the rural interior and to review existing ones in 2030. Expedia reported its quarter, Vacasa lost two senior executives, AirDNA put U.S. supply 21.9% above a year before, and the UK tax office was said to be writing to hosts.
A look back, written in October 2026 from sources published in February 2023. Stay Gazette opened in July 2026.
The Money · 14 February 2023Airbnb Posts Its First Full-Year Profit and Signals Lower Nightly RatesAirbnb earned $1.9 billion in 2022 and ended the year with 6.6 million active listings. In the same letter it told investors that nightly rates would face growing pressure in 2023, partly from pricing tools it was building for hosts.By Dana Whitfield · Filed 11 October 2026 · 7 min read
World · 16 February 2023Portugal Proposes a Ban on New Short-Term Rental LicensesPortugal's government approved a housing package that would stop new alojamento local licenses outside the rural interior, review every existing license in 2030 and put a levy on the homes that stayed. Hosts had about a month of public consultation to answer it.By Tomás Ferreira · Filed 11 October 2026 · 7 min read
Pictures on this page. 1. Photo: San Francisco (CA, USA), Fisherman's Wharf Parking Garage, Skyline -- 2022 -- 151006 by Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized). 2. Photo: Alfama Lisbon 12 2016 9714 by Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
What else was reported in February 2023
- 9 February 2023Short Term Rentalz reported that Airbnb would soon require guests to prove who they were, with a government-issued ID or a legal address, when they booked; its global head of operations, Tara Bunch, said 80% of bookings already carried identity verification. Short Term Rentalz
- 9 February 2023Expedia Group, whose brands include Vrbo, reported fourth-quarter 2022 revenue of $2,618 million, up 15% from a year earlier, and gross bookings of $20,511 million, up 17%. Expedia Group (earnings release furnished to the SEC)
- 9 February 2023Craig Smith and Jeff Flitton had stepped down as chief commercial officer and chief technology officer of Vacasa, Short Term Rentalz reported, weeks after the Portland-based vacation rental manager cut its workforce by 17%; Flitton had left in January. Short Term Rentalz
- 22 February 2023AirDNA's review of January 2023 put U.S. short-term rental supply 21.9% above a year earlier and demand 14.5% higher, with occupancy at 49.9% and average rates up 3.1% to $311. Short Term Rentalz
- 28 February 2023HM Revenue & Customs was sending 'nudge' letters to an initial 1,000 people in the UK it suspected of under-declaring income from short-term lets, according to a Financial Times report cited by Short Term Rentalz; recipients were believed to have 30 days to respond. Short Term Rentalz
- 28 February 2023EU business ministers were due to approve new rules on 2 March 2023 for short-term rental platforms including Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group and TripAdvisor, following the European Commission's proposal of November 2022 on data sharing and the registration of hosts. Short Term Rentalz