(Reuters) – U.S. home rental company Airbnb Inc’s supply more than doubled over the past four years, while surpassing some of the traditional hotel chains combined, data from analytics firm AirDNA showed on Friday.
The relative appeal for short-term rentals with larger living space and their location in remote destinations proved vital for Airbnb during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing it to perform better than traditional forms of lodging over the last year, AirDNA said.
Airbnb’s global active listings increased by 2.5% as of February 2021, compared with a year earlier, according to the firm.
Globally, there were over 5.4 million active listings on Airbnb, with more units available for rent than the combined total of 3.3 million units at hotel chains Marriott, Hilton, and IHG, AirDNA said.
Airbnb had a supply of 2.3 million units at the beginning of 2017.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
