Airbnb Posts Its First Full-Year Profit and Signals Lower Nightly Rates (February 2023)

From the record. This is a look back at February 2023. The desk wrote it on 11 October 2026 from sources published at the time; Stay Gazette opened in July 2026 and did not report this as it happened.

On 14 February 2023, Airbnb reported the first profitable full year in its history: net income of $1.9 billion for 2022 on revenue of $8.4 billion. In 2021 it had lost $352 million. The fourth quarter alone brought net income of $319 million on revenue of $1.9 billion, which the company called its most profitable fourth quarter ever.

The shareholder letter that carried those figures also carried two that bore directly on anyone with a listing. Airbnb ended 2022 with 6.6 million active listings, over 900,000 more than in 2021, excluding China. And it told investors that its average daily rate would be slightly lower in the first quarter of 2023 and would face increasing downward pressure for the rest of the year.

What Airbnb reported

Revenue for 2022 was $8.4 billion, up 40% from 2021, or 46% excluding currency effects. Net income was $1.9 billion.
Fourth-quarter revenue was $1.9 billion, up 24%. Net income was $319 million, $264 million more than in the fourth quarter of 2021, for a net income margin of 17% against 4%.
Nights and Experiences Booked reached 88.2 million in the quarter, up 20%. Gross booking value was $13.5 billion, also up 20%.
Adjusted EBITDA was $506 million in the quarter, up 52% from $333 million. The Adjusted EBITDA margin for the full year was 35%, against 27% for 2021.
Free cash flow was $3.4 billion for the year. Airbnb repurchased $1.5 billion of its own stock.

The Associated Press put the quarter's profit at 48 cents a share, where analysts surveyed by FactSet had on average forecast 26 cents, and said revenue beat Wall Street's forecast of $1.86 billion. In after-market trading the shares rose about 9%. For the first quarter of 2023 Airbnb forecast revenue of $1.75 billion to $1.82 billion, growth of between 16% and 21%, which the AP said would beat expectations. Not every number cleared the bar: the trade paper Short Term Rentalz noted that the 88.2 million nights and experiences booked came in slightly below expectations of 90.1 million.

Over 900,000 more listings

The 6.6 million active listings were the most Airbnb had ever had. The increase of over 900,000 was a rise of 16% from 2021, not counting the mainland China listings the company removed in July 2022. Supply grew in cities and outside them and in every region, North America most of all.

The company gave two reasons. Hosts were drawn by supplemental income at a time of inflation and recession concerns, and Airbnb had made it easier to start. Airbnb Setup, introduced on 16 November 2022, connected prospective hosts with Superhosts for free guidance. Since that release and the launch of its Airbnb It campaign, the letter said, the number of visitors to the host landing page had doubled, and new active hosts brought in with a Superhost's help were up more than 20% on the level before the launch. Chief executive Brian Chesky said on the earnings call that the vast majority of new listings came from individuals and not from property managers, and that 36% of hosts in the fourth quarter had first been guests.

An analyst asked how many of the 900,000 were new listings and how many were old ones reactivated. Chief financial officer Dave Stephenson gave no breakdown. He said deactivations were falling and new activations were strengthening. Answering other questions, he pointed to the comparison with 2019, supply up 26% and nights booked up 24%, and named the risk in adding homes faster than guests: “If we get too much supply too quickly, then hosts aren't happy because they're not getting enough bookings.”

Part of the push was aimed at cities. Airbnb-Friendly Apartments, announced in the fourth quarter, listed more than 175 apartment buildings in the United States where renters could host part-time. Chesky named Houston, Phoenix and Jacksonville among the cities, and said tenants could typically host for fewer than 180 days a year.

The nightly rate

The average daily rate was $153 in the fourth quarter, 1% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2021. Excluding currency effects it rose 5%. Airbnb put the fall down to foreign exchange and to mix: city trips and other kinds of booking that usually carried lower rates had come back. Price increases offset part of it, the letter said. High-density urban nights were 51% of gross nights booked, against 59% in the fourth quarter of 2019, and grew 22% in a year. Cross-border nights grew 49%.

Rates were still far above where they had been. Stephenson told analysts they were 36% higher than in 2019, and he drew the consequence himself: “So, it's more expensive for guests to stay on Airbnb and, frankly, other places.”

The outlook pointed down. Airbnb expected a slightly lower rate in the first quarter of 2023 than in the first quarter of 2022. For the rest of the year it expected increasing downward pressure from the mix of bookings and from the new pricing and discounting tools it planned for hosts. It gave no figure. Stephenson described the forecast as a modest decline, driven largely by mix, and said the company did not expect a significant decrease from the tools themselves. Airbnb said it expected to hold its Adjusted EBITDA margin for 2023 at the 2022 level, offsetting lower rates with cost savings.

Pricing tools and the total price

The tools belonged to a wider change in how Airbnb showed and ranked prices. In December 2022 it had given guests the option to see a total price, before taxes, when they searched. The AP reported that the company had been pushed into it by complaints over steep cleaning fees and other charges. Airbnb said the effect on its business had so far been neutral.

Chesky described three steps on the call: the total-price display, a search ranking that took the total price into account and put better-value listings higher, and tools to show hosts what a guest paid in the end. He gave the reason for the third: “One of the things we learned when we talked to hosts is they don't always know the final price guests are paying.” If they did, he said, they would adjust some of their fees.

The letter said the tools would start arriving in 2023. Airbnb's stated view was that the changes would bring more affordable stays, support bookings growth and so help hosts too.

On fees, Chesky put Airbnb's take rate on the host side at 3% and said it had been giving hosts products such as AirCover for free. The 2022 Winter Release had raised AirCover's damage protection to $3 million. He said the company also saw some opportunities for services hosts might pay for.

The Gazette Verdict, looking back

Airbnb's first annual profit came with a signal that easy pricing was ending for hosts, and the signal was in the same letter. It added over 900,000 listings, 16% in a year, told investors that nightly rates would come under increasing pressure, and said it expected to protect its own 35% margin with cost savings. A host had no such cushion. Airbnb earned on booking value, which rose 20% in the quarter while the rate fell 1%, so a lower rate that filled more nights suited the platform better than it suited any one owner. Its shareholders got a rise of about 9% after the close and a $1.5 billion buyback. Hosts got a search ranking that counted the total price. The lesson was to look at the listing the way a guest would, fees included, and to plan 2023 on a lower rate and more competitors.

The other side

Airbnb's figures support a calmer reading. Since 2019 supply had grown 26% and nights booked 24%, close to level, and Stephenson said the company saw no major shift in utilization that gave it concern. Airbnb traced the 1% fall in the daily rate to currency and to guests returning to cities, which means a different mix of listings and no proof that a given host earned less. Excluding currency the rate rose 5%, and it stood 36% above 2019. Nights booked were up 20%. Hosts still set their own prices, the host fee Chesky cited was 3%, and a tool that shows a host the guest's final price gives that host a number Chesky said hosts did not always know.

What it meant for hosts

For someone running rentals in February 2023, the letter and the call came down to five practical points.

The rate. Airbnb's own outlook was a slightly lower daily rate in the first quarter and more pressure after that. A budget built on 2022 rates was built above what the platform expected.
The total price. Guests could switch on a total-price view, and Chesky said search would favor better-value listings by total price. Cleaning and other fees now counted in the comparison, so the number to check was the one the guest paid.
Competition. Listings were up 16% in a year, most of all in North America, and Chesky said Airbnb advised new hosts without reviews to start a little more affordably.
Stays. Stays of 28 nights or longer were 21% of nights booked, stable from a year earlier, and about 46% of nights came from stays of seven nights or more.
Fees. The host-side rate Chesky cited was 3%, and he said paid services for hosts were a possibility.

Sources

Airbnb, Inc. (furnished to the SEC), Shareholder Letter, dated February 14, 2023 (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K) (14 February 2023).
Airbnb, Inc., Q4 2022 Shareholder Letter (14 February 2023).
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Airbnb, Inc. Form 8-K, Date of Report February 14, 2023 (14 February 2023).
Airbnb Newsroom, Airbnb Q4 2022 and full-year financial results (14 February 2023).
Associated Press (via ClickOnDetroit), Airbnb 4Q profit and revenue rise on bookings, higher rates (14 February 2023).
The Motley Fool, Airbnb (ABNB) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript (14 February 2023).
Short Term Rentalz, Airbnb records first annual profit in Q4 earnings report (17 February 2023).

Airbnb Posts Its First Full-Year Profit and Signals Lower Nightly Rates