Airbnb on Tuesday announced a $349 million loss in the fourth quarter due to an income tax settlement with Italy, but bookings and revenue rose and the short-term rental giant said demand remained strong.
The company expects first-quarter sales to meet or exceed Wall Street expectations.
However, the pace of booking growth is likely to “slow down” from the fourth quarter to the first quarter, and the early arrival of Easter could have a negative impact on growth in the second quarter, Airbnb said. Bee stated.
The fourth quarter was impaired by $1 billion in one-time withholding expenses and lodging tax reserves.
In December, the vacation rental platform said it would pay 576 million euros ($621 million at the time) to Italian tax authorities in a lawsuit over withholding taxes from Italian real estate hosts. Airbnb has denied any wrongdoing, and company officials say they have no similar liability in other countries.
Excluding special expenses, Airbnb announced it would have earned $489 million.
Revenue rose 17% to $2.22 billion, beating the $2.17 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet. The number of reservations increased by 12%, and the average daily rate increased by 3%.
Airbnb expects first-quarter revenue to be between $2.03 billion and $2.07 billion. Analysts had expected $2.03 billion.
The company said demand remains strong, especially among new users of the site. Bookings rose 12% year-on-year, picking up after October’s “volatility” that the company did not explain in its letter to shareholders.
Airbnb said its growth is accelerating in less mature and “low-penetration markets,” such as Brazil, where domestic bookings have nearly doubled since the end of 2019.
Total bookings were $15.5 billion, slightly ahead of analysts’ expectations of $15.2 billion.
The San Francisco company added about 1.2 million properties last year, bringing its total to more than 7.7 million, with the highest growth rate in Asia Pacific and Latin America.