On August 7th morning Beijing time, Airbnb $ABNB.US$ released its Q2 performance report in 2024. The financial report shows that the company's Q2 revenue reached $2.75 billion, an 11% increase from the same period last year, exceeding market expectations. However, the net income was $0.555 billion ($0.86 per share), a 15% decrease from $0.65 billion ($0.98 per share) in the same period last year. Prior to this, according to FactSet's data, analysts generally expected the company's EPS to be $0.91 and revenue to be $2.7 billion. Although revenue exceeded expectations, net income did not meet analyst expectations. Additionally, the management's warning of slowing demand from American customers has exacerbated the consumer spending weakness held by many investors, leading to a 16% drop in Airbnb's stock price in after-hours trading.

Airbnb expects Q3 revenue to be between 3.67 billion US dollars and 3.73 billion US dollars, but at the same time reminds investors that the YoY growth of its core "lodging and experience" business will slow down. The company also pointed out that "the global preparation time for booking is shortening, and there are signs of slowdown in demand from American customers."

It is understood that the lead time for reservations is a key indicator in the tourism industry, which refers to the number of days from the reservation date to check-in. A shorter lead time may indicate that consumers tend to make reservations at the last minute, which may reflect increased uncertainty and more cautious consumer behavior.

In Q2, Airbnb's booking growth rate continues to slow down. The total value of all bookings completed on the Airbnb platform in this quarter increased by 11% YoY to reach 21.2 billion US dollars, but this growth rate was lower than the 12% in Q1, 15% in the last quarter of 2023, and 17% in Q3 2023.

Airbnb stated that users booked 0.1251 billion nights of lodging and experiences in Q2, an increase of 9% YoY, setting a new Q2 record for the company. In its letter to shareholders, Airbnb mentioned, "Compared with Q2 2023, we have achieved continuous growth in all regions, especially in Asia-Pacific and Latin America."

The company also announced that since launching its "quality system" more than a year ago, it has removed more than 0.2 million listings of low-quality accommodations.

Airbnb's average daily room rate (ADR) increased by about 2% this quarter to reach $169.53, and is expected to continue to grow slightly in Q3. Net profit margin, which is the profit obtained by the company for every dollar of revenue generated, fell to 20% in Q2, lower than 26% in the same period last year.

As Airbnb announced its performance outlook, the US employment report fell short of expectations, triggering concerns about economic slowdown in the market. RBC analyst Brad Erickson pointed out in a client report that Airbnb's comment "may only further exacerbate the weak consumer sentiment held by many market participants".

In 2022 and 2023, Airbnb, Booking (BKNG.US), and Expedia Group (EXPE.US) benefited from the rebound in the tourism industry, largely due to travel restrictions in 2020 and 2021 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The so-called "revenge travel" drove strong sales growth for these companies. However, the market situation seems to be changing.

Last week, Booking reported that the growth of room nights booked was lower than expected, and pointed out that the performance of the European tourism industry was weak. Expedia will release its performance report this Thursday, and the market is closely watching its performance.

Editor/ping