WEBVTT - Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Talks Car Rentals, Food, Hotels

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news LL Right, welcome back,

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<v Speaker 1>Airbnb hosting a summer release today. Let's get right out

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<v Speaker 1>to San Francisco right now, we're Bloomberg Tech co hosts

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<v Speaker 1>is standing by with the CEO and co founder of Airbnb,

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<v Speaker 1>Brian Cheski. Take it away.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Brian, it's good to have you with us. Like,

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<v Speaker 2>look the way that I look at this new offering

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<v Speaker 2>from Airbnb, not just an expansion of travel services right.

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<v Speaker 2>More like Airbnb is an app store where developers can

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<v Speaker 2>build for the existing customer base. So with everything new

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<v Speaker 2>that you're offering, is this Brian Chesky and founder mode

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<v Speaker 2>building it to grow it and launch it or are

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<v Speaker 2>you thinking M and A and buying it?

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<v Speaker 3>Interesting? Great question, So you know, I think you're right.

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<v Speaker 3>What we announced today were four major services groceries, airport pickup,

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<v Speaker 3>luggage storage, and car Rentalds. But I told everyone is

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<v Speaker 3>just the beginning. You're going to see and more services.

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<v Speaker 3>And what we're building is an ecosystem of services for

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<v Speaker 3>every part of your trip, from the time you arrive

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<v Speaker 3>at the time you leave. It is a little bit

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<v Speaker 3>like an app store in the sense that we' working

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<v Speaker 3>with the developers. We want to create really great integrations,

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<v Speaker 3>we want to create great guidelines, and mostly the answer

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<v Speaker 3>your question, we're looking mostly at partnering. We're always going

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<v Speaker 3>to be open minded about acquisitions, but you know, we

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<v Speaker 3>really want to elevate these partners around the world, and

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<v Speaker 3>so we have some great partners today and we really

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<v Speaker 3>just want to be a great partner to them.

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<v Speaker 2>The reason I asked it that way, Brian, is like,

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<v Speaker 2>strategically in the past, you've done some deals. I'm thinking

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<v Speaker 2>about hotels tonight or like even areas you've divested from.

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<v Speaker 2>What am I thinking of, like tickets, tourbooking, right, But

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<v Speaker 2>hotels is really interesting here twenty markets for boutique hotels.

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<v Speaker 2>I would look at that and say those are also

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<v Speaker 2>markets where there are some limitations on short term rental.

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<v Speaker 2>But what's your pitch to the boutique hotel industry why

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<v Speaker 2>Airbnb is a partner?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, actually, it's really interesting they're pitching us, which I

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<v Speaker 3>was very surprised. And why are they pitching us? Well,

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<v Speaker 3>because many of the batique and independent hotels. By the way,

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<v Speaker 3>if anyone's wondering how many, there are about sixty percent

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<v Speaker 3>of the hotels in the world in butiques and independence.

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<v Speaker 3>Batiques and independents don't get the same deal that chan hotels

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<v Speaker 3>get because chain hotels like Hilton and Maria have points programs.

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<v Speaker 3>They also are able to negotiate with book and Expedia

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<v Speaker 3>lower commissions than batiques, and so what we offer is

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<v Speaker 3>a flat fifteen percent commission on batiques and hotels. We've

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<v Speaker 3>got this great merchandising for them. A lot of batique hotels,

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<v Speaker 3>especially in Europe, love that we have American travelers, we

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<v Speaker 3>have younger travelers, and we're just really built custom for them,

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<v Speaker 3>and so they ultimately want more demand of young and

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<v Speaker 3>young travelers in particular, and that's we can offer them.

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<v Speaker 2>Changing consumer behavior so hard, or rather bringing new behaviors

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<v Speaker 2>from a consumer so hard. Like I'm going to pass

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<v Speaker 2>a roeblaz right in June. So if I book an Airbnb, okay,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe it makes sense if I do the wine tasting

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<v Speaker 2>experience with it. But with all the new things you have,

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<v Speaker 2>how do you actually get people to make use of that?

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<v Speaker 3>You know, it's really important that we personalize the app.

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<v Speaker 3>So like some people want to participate and do a

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<v Speaker 3>cooking class, to do a food tour in their vacation.

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<v Speaker 3>Some people just want to relax and they want groceries

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<v Speaker 3>to deliver for them, and they want everything taken care of.

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<v Speaker 3>The most important thing is that we have a deeply

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<v Speaker 3>personalized service. So with a new homepage, the app really

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<v Speaker 3>learns about you. With AI, we can start to understand

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<v Speaker 3>your preferences. My vision is eventually every person in the

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<v Speaker 3>open Airbnb sees something different than something else based on

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<v Speaker 3>what they love, and I, over time want the app

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<v Speaker 3>to feel like it knows you. You know, we're in

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<v Speaker 3>the hospitality business. Our app is only as good as

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<v Speaker 3>the sense that it feels like it knows you and

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<v Speaker 3>it's personalized to you. So even if one day we

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<v Speaker 3>offer one hundred different categories service experiences, we don't want

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<v Speaker 3>to throw a hundred things at you. We want to

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<v Speaker 3>know the five things you really care about.

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<v Speaker 2>Since the beginning of May, I've been reading completely inconsistent

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<v Speaker 2>reports about travel demand for the World FIFA World Cup,

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<v Speaker 2>particularly from the hotels. What is Airbnb seeing for those

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<v Speaker 2>coming for this World Cup?

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, we are anticipating the World Cup will be

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<v Speaker 3>the biggest event in Airbnb history, and we're seeing a

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<v Speaker 3>similar travel pattern as the Milan Olympics more than sixty

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<v Speaker 3>days out for the Milan Olympics, it did not look

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<v Speaker 3>like the demand was going to be what we anticipated,

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<v Speaker 3>and then something unexpected happened. We had a surge of

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<v Speaker 3>demand within sixty days of the beginning of the games,

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<v Speaker 3>and two hundred thousand guests stayed in Milan and Quartino

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<v Speaker 3>for the Olympics. So what we're seeing is people booking

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<v Speaker 3>more last minute. But we are still seeing a huge

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<v Speaker 3>amount of demand for the World Cup. So to answer question,

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<v Speaker 3>we are expecting it to be the biggest event in

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<v Speaker 3>airbingb history.

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<v Speaker 2>You spoke to my colleague and friend Natalie learn about

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<v Speaker 2>Chinese AI models and a misunderstanding of how that works

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<v Speaker 2>in practice. But I just wanted to clarify. Is Airbnb

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<v Speaker 2>still using or relying on some of those models you

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<v Speaker 2>know Quinn or even new ones, and is that the

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<v Speaker 2>open source opportunity or is that the sort of cloud

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<v Speaker 2>based API where you're a customer of those companies.

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<v Speaker 3>We are not a customer of those companies. We're using

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<v Speaker 3>a variety of different open source models. I just want

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<v Speaker 3>to say a few things about this matter. Number One,

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<v Speaker 3>data and privacy is most important to Airbnb. I think

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<v Speaker 3>anyone who knows knows we have an outstanding track record

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<v Speaker 3>on data security and privacy. Number two, all of our

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<v Speaker 3>data is vaulted. No company has access to our data.

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<v Speaker 3>It is vaulted in Airbnb. Number three, The Congressional Committee

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<v Speaker 3>has reached out to us. They said they have some questions.

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<v Speaker 3>We said, we want to cooperate, and so we're in

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<v Speaker 3>direct contact and cooperation with them. And I think before

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<v Speaker 3>I answer any more questions to the public, I want

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<v Speaker 3>to make sure that the Congressional Committee. Here's from me directly.

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<v Speaker 2>Brian Chesky, Airbnb co founder and CEO expanding bag storage

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<v Speaker 2>car rentals, Bootique hotels. But I love talking to you

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<v Speaker 2>about technology as well. Thank you, Thank you very much,