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Airbnb And The Pending Trouble With Travel – Tech Tuesday In Two Minutes

Travel will never the same… and it’s not for the reasons that you might think.

Sure, along with the global pandemic and vaccine passports, there will be hurdles to what travel will be.
Many feel like this coming summer may be the first bright light at the end of a long tunnel.
It’s looking like it may be filled with as much frustration as sun.

What’s going on with travel?

Well, if you’re sticking close to home, many of the country spots are already booked.
Camping sites are either sold out or charging hotel-like prices.
Car rental companies are struggling to meet demands, and their prices are increasing dramatically as well.
Airlines are trying to reboot routes that were shut down, and it seems like flights are expensive too.

Are you sensing a trend here?

Limited quantity on the supply side.
Travel-related businesses have been on the sidelines, and they’re going to make a run at revenue.
Us consumers are going to pay a multiple for the luxury of travel, so the market will decide what is reasonable (and what is not).
I’ve heard stories of people renting U-Haul trucks because they can’t rent a car.

Airbnb is feeling it too.

Airbnb has over four million hosts.
Airbnb’s CEO, Brian Chesky just said this to CNBC:

“To meet the demand over the coming years, we’re going to need millions more hosts. I think that we probably will have a high class problem where there will probably be more guests coming to Airbnb than we’ll have hosts for, because… we think there’s going to be a travel rebound coming that’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen. We are working our hardest to get more hosts on the platform”

Warning:

Before you make your summer plans, make sure you know how much the budget might have to increase.
Before you make your summer plans, understand that many people have already booked theirs, so you might be more stuck than ever before.
It also sounds like vacation destinations are going to struggle with enough employees to keep the traffic light – from the hotels and restaurants to the bars and camping grounds.
We’re all going to have to be patient in a world where we will be paying a lot and, perhaps, not being services at the level with which we have become accustomed.

The full story is here: Airbnb CEO says company will need millions more hosts to meet surging demand (CNBC).

This is what Heather Backman and I discussed this morning over on Jack 103 FM for a couple of minutes.

What is Tech Tuesday?

If you ever find yourself wondering… What, exactly, is the point of TikTok? How can I make myself look better on a Zoom? Reddit? What’s that about? How do I help my kids be safer online? Who’s the latest creator and streamer that I should be checking out?

You are not alone.

Every Tuesday – for just a few minutes – I join Heather Backman (my old buddy from her days on CHOM FM) on the air at Jack 103 (Rogers Sports & Media) to give a quick blast about the current state of technology, media and Internet culture. We’re calling the segment Tech Tuesday (and we do it in just a few minutes).

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Mitch Joel · Airbnb And The Pending Trouble With Travel – Tech Tuesday – Jack 103 – May 4th, 2021

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.