The home-sharing specialist was valued at $25 billion in a recent funding round. Is it really worth that much?

Home-sharing juggernaut Airbnb reached a jaw-dropping valuation of $25 billion in its most recent funding round. That figure left some observers scratching their heads as the company is projected to bring in just $900 million in revenue this year and is still operating at a loss. 

New Zealand guest nights rose in May at their fastest pace in two years, fuelled by a rebound in both domestic and international travellers and a lift in South Island and hotel park stays.

Seasonally adjusted guest nights advanced 2.6 per cent in May from April, the fastest pace since May 2013's 8.4 per cent gain and snapping the previous month's 0.6 per cent decline, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Stays in holiday parks jumped 5.2 per cent, while backpacker nights climbed 3.4 per cent, motels advanced 2.2 per cent and hotel stays rose 1.3 per cent.

A total of 172 billion euros was spent on international luxury travel last year. This means that for foreign travel every eighth euro was spent on luxury products. More than 1,000 euros per night was spent by luxury travellers from the United Arab Emirates, India, Kuwait, Brazil, Australia, Canada and China (in descending order). Turnover did not increase due to higher spending per person but rather from a rising number of travellers. Growth drivers were above all new customers in emerging markets, who moved up into the luxury travel segment, or those who returned to the luxury market after the crisis, such as travellers from the USA.

This interesting article by Bruce was published in the June 2015 Hospitality magazine and in my opinion deserves repeating.

Bruce writes that the economic outlook is positive and transaction data suggests there is continued growth in spending across accommodation and food and beverage. A period of economic growth is an opportune time to review prices and margins. Over the past few years hospitality operators have been reluctant to increase prices despite facing increased input costs. Costs are still increasing in a number of areas, particularly supplier costs, rates, wage increases and skilled staff shortages.