Women Powering Airbnb Through Pandemic GDK 032321

Women hosts are powering Airbnb during the pandemic.

Airbnb estimates over two million of their four million hosts gloabally are actually women.

Storm potential moving back and temperatures rain warm in the c1 3 speaker 1: the pandemic has forced thousands of women out of the workforce.

And in order to face the economic burdens that have fallen on their shoulders, many have become new airbnb hosts.

Now airbnb estimates over two million of their four million hosts globally are actually women.

So how are women hosts powering airbnb during the pandemic?

Well, here to tell us more is the regional communications lead for latin america at airbnb, stephanie ruiz.

Thanks for chatting with us today.

Stephanie ruiz: no, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: of course.

First, let's start off with this question, i mean, what has been the collective financial benefit for women from hosting on airbnb during the pandemic?

Stephanie ruiz: yeah, so the airbnb community is, and actually always has been, a community powered by women.

In fact, 55% of our hosts globally are women, so more than two million hosts.

And women have turned to airbnb time and time again for extra income to provide for their families and in some cases have turned hosting into a full- blown career.

Now, all of that in the context of the pandemic, it's no secret that the stress and just weight of what the pandemic has meant has fallen on the shoulders of women, having forcing them out of the workforce, having to make difficult decisions.

And so we've seen, again this past year new women hosts turning to the platform for this fhem provide r familily earned upwards of $600 milliothat's pretty remarkable y do you tave really turned to airbnb z: sure.

So i think the for one hosat it takes to be a hosty natuties.

And the other side of that isy become a financial lifeline for many women needing that supplemental income, perhaps more flexibility and work life balance.

And we've seen it time and time again, where women are using this income for health benefits, to pay down debt.

And we're really excited about that.

Speaker 1: absolutely.

And we are all, of course, looking forward to post pandemic travel.

So what sort of travel trends do you expect to see?

Stephanie ruiz: yeah, so it's hard to obviously look way into the future, but one thing's for certain people really miss travel.

It's the thing that my family misses the most.

And so we definitely see this pent up demand for travel coming up.

At the same time, like everything, travel has changed.

We see the shift from kind of this mass travel approach so no longer needing to take a selfie in front of statue, to much more of, what we're calling meaningful travel, so looking to disconnect or reconnect, i should say, with family and friends on their next trip, or looking to reconnect to nature, taking a road trip to maybe a rural destination nearby, rediscovering places in your own state.

And so all of that to say that now is a great time to capitalize on this pent-up travel demand that we're seeing and it's a great opportunity to take advantage of.

Speaker 1: i love the stay-cation idea, we can all benefit from that.

If people are watching this and they liked some more information, where can they go to find that?

Stephanie ruiz: sure.

So if you're interested in learning more about how to become a host, go to airbnb.com/hosts.

Speaker 1: wonderful.

Thank you so much for talking to us today, stephanie.

We appreciate it.

Stephanie ruiz: no, thank you so much and have a wonderful weekend.

Speaker 1: you too.