Airbnb has really taken off, according to some statistics released by the company on Thursday. The company, which allows people to rent out private spaces to travelers, call themselves the “community marketplace for unique spaces.”
The most striking figure that Airbnb now boasts is 5 million+ nights booked through the service. Out of all of those bookings, a quarter consisted of arrangements from a U.S. guest and a U.S. host. The rest of the bookings had either guests, hosts, or both from other countries. In the last year, the amount of booked nights has increased 500%.
Airbnb is now in 19,000+ cities and 192 different countries. They have seen off-the-charts growth in places like Italy, Spain, The UK, and France.
The growth has been so substantial, that Airbnb has announced in their blog post that they will be expanding. This means news offices in six different locations – Barcelona, Copenhagen, Milan, Moscow, Paris, and Sao Paulo. Airbnb already has offices in Berlin, Hamburg, London, and San Francisco.
Founder Joe Gebbia had this to say: “Being closer to our hosts and guests is a natural response. The next chapter will be about spreading the culture and values of Airbnb to our widest international communities.”
In May 2011, Ashton Kutcher invested in the company and joined the team as a “strategic advisor.” In July, they received $112 million in series b financing.
Airbnb tackled a little bit of controversy recently, as a couple of customers reported that their house had been burglarized and that Airbnb’s response was less than helpful. Airbnb apologized for the incidents, and by the looks of these figures, they haven’t done any lasting harm to the company.
Check out their infographic below: