Airbnb third-quarter profit, revenue get a lift from strong international demand

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(Reuters) -Vacation rental firm Airbnb posted higher third-quarter profit and revenue on Thursday, helped by strong bookings in markets such as Latin America and Asia Pacific.

The San Francisco-based company has been customizing its platform for regional audiences, adding new payment options and launching locally focused marketing campaigns.

Airbnb said bookings in its expansion markets have grown twice as fast as in its core markets of U.S., Australia, Canada, UK, and France, over the past year.

The company posted third-quarter revenue of $4.10 billion, up 9.7% from a year earlier. Gross bookings jumped about 14% to $22.9 billion.

The rentals company posted a per-share profit of $2.21, compared to $2.13 last year.

During the quarter, the travel firm saw the fastest growth in nights and seats booked — a metric that combines stays and activities reserved on Airbnb — in Latin America, helped by the launch of an interest-free payment plan in Brazil.

The reported period was also buoyed by a 27% rise in quarterly bookings for domestic travel in Japan, and a 50% increase in first-time users in India.

Meanwhile, nights booked in North America rose in the mid-single digits, slightly higher than the prior quarter, aided by the launch of “Reserve Now, Pay Later” option in the U.S, which was prompting travelers to book their stays further in advance.

The U.S. market has been in focus as consumers scale back travel spending, worried by persistent inflation and economic uncertainty.

Airbnb’s fourth-quarter revenue forecast of $2.66 billion to $2.72 billion was largely above Wall Street estimates $2.67 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)